Between Gold and Ice Cream
by RainingBeemoLover
Summary: Traumatized by an event that rendered his team dead, a survivor tries to cope with it. With school, friends, and two love interests, he sinks further and further into the abyss with each passing day. A question is branded into his mind, little did he know that the answer will either make or break him. YangxOCxNeo. Neo introduced in later chapters.
1. P1 The Op Gone Wrong

**A/N : So this is an updated version of my previous story "A Step In The Right Direction". I changed the beginning to better suit a multi-chaptered fic because honestly, you gotta admit, my OC was dayuum OP. (He's still OP at the moment, gotta admit that too. Made of titanium or somefin.)Fresh from editing and revision my mind needs a rest, so if you catch any mistakes or awkward sentences, chances are I will too later on. Don't worry though, the OC should become a normal human bean later on (Like chapter 4-ish.)**

 **Neo'll be introduced later in the story, with Yang being the main focus in the beginning.**

 **Enjoy Between Gold and Icecream!**

* * *

"So... Let me get this right; You want to buy...a dress?" Jaune's friend Pug asked, wiping his sweaty brow.

"Yep." Jaune said with a pop.

"Why exactly...?" Pug raised an eyebrow, pushing his raven hair to one side of his face. Golden streaks ran through his hair, places his hair dye missed. The way his hair was styled reminded Jaune of Ruby's hair.

"I told Pyrrha that if she didn't get a date to the dance, I'd wear a dress." Jaune pointed a thumb at his chest and smiled weakly.

"... And you're serious about that?"

"An Arc never backs down on his word."

"Ok..." Pug nodded and blinked his steel gray eyes slowly, processing what Jaune had just told him. "Well, I'm going to shower and change, and tell Yang where I'm going." Pug headed for the locker rooms."

"Alright, I can wait here. W-wait! Don't tell Yang! I'll be a complete laughingstock." Jaune shouted to his friend. Pug stuck a thumbs up in the air.

Jaune waited a few minutes, playing with the strings of his black hoodie. Pug drank a cold water bottle as he came back. He was wearing a gray shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Together they left the gym, Pug leading the way down the street.

It was sunny in Vale, small clouds rolled along in the blue sky. A light wind whispering along sent goosebumps along his arm. They turned left, down the street and walked through the crowd citizens.

Marcia's Dresses and Beyond. Jaune never would have thought he was going to buy a dress for himself. His sisters came here sometimes, usually for formal events or marriages. It reeked of perfume inside, dresses of all shapes and sizes, styles and appearances hung from the racks.

The store clerk named Marcia smiled. "How can I help you... Gentlemen?" She was a middle aged woman with graying brown hair. Her teal eyes stared at them oddly, like they were a bunch of crooks.

"Just helping my friend get a dress for his date." Pug coolly played off. Jaune silently breathed a sigh of relief.

Marcia beamed. "What size is she? It would be better if she came in, that way I can tailor the dress to fit her perfectly!"

"Coincidentally, she's the same size and body stature of this- charming young man here. We can tailor it on him." Pug smirked, nudging Jaune with his elbow.

They spent a good three to four hours trying on dresses. Many colors schemes, dress styles went by. The two boys were about experienced in fashion as flamingo using a gun. Juane and Pug settled for a frilly white strapless dress, it complemented the white armor that Jaune usually wore.

As they walked to the airship, Pug joked that he could join the ranks of Ruby and Weiss with his own battle skirt.

"Heh, I'm sure Pyrrha will find a date." Pug patted Jaune on the back.

* * *

Pug smiled, reliving that moment in his head.

His gray eyes stared through the crosshair of his sniper rifle. He focused the single red dot on a warehouse, tinted silvery blue from the moon. With the moon's light he could see two sentries outside of the gate doors, just black shadows from this distance. He couldn't make out their appearances. The dot hovered over their heads, seeming to decide which one to take out first.

His earpiece crackled to life, Professor Bourbon's voice gruff and alcoholic voice sounding from it.

"Mr. Vulken, please take care not to notify everyone inside of the warehouse of our presence. We're to retrieve the package like a ghost; no alarms."

Team Peppermint, or PPMT for short, sat behind the fences surrounding the dockside. They waited for him to take out the sentries before moving into the warehouse and searching for the package. Pug was perched up in a building directly west of the warehouse, far away and out of sight.

Primrose, their leader and Pug's partner, hissed at him.

"Hurry up and take the shot."

Primrose Minerva was the leader of Team Peppermint. Primrose- or Prim for short- was generally very bossy and snappy to her teammates, but she also had a softer side that she rarely showed. Everything about her was pink. She had light pink hair tied into two small buns at the back of her head, a pale complexion, and light pink eyes. Her parasol hung from her hips, a pink battle skirt donned just for the moment.

Pug inhaled and exhaled slowly, steadying the crosshair over a sentry's head. With an audible pop the first sentry went down. The second pop was much louder, but it did the job and killed the second sentry. The barrel of his mechanized sniper rifle revolver (MSRR) was smoking, the suppressor he had bought twisted and broken. He unscrewed the hot steel cylinder with a gloved hand and tossed it to the ground.

His earpiece crackled to life again, Primrose's irritated voice coming though.

"What happened to your silencer!? That was close, they could have heard you!"

"It broke. Cheap thing was selling for 1300 lien, sorry... Guess that's what I get for calling my weapon Bad Luck." Pug spoke lowly into his receiver, "Either way, no one noticed a thing. Move in, you're clear."

Through the scope, he watched Professor Bourbon cut the wires on the fence and crawl though. Primrose followed after him. Pug laughed silently as she fumbled to get her parasol through the small hole. Malva Lares helped her by using her weapon, Tars Iniquia, to cut a larger hole into the fence.

Malva Lares was a faunus, a cat faunus. Her purple hair was drawn into a ponytail, her feline ears visible. Those ears were sharply accentuated with her elliptical emerald eyes, which could probably see in the dark. She returned Tars Iniquia to her back. It was a one edged sword, almost resembling a katana. The other edge was modified to become an assault rifle, the trigger and mag located at the hilt. Malva generally exhibited a smart, yet caring personality, like now for example, as she helped her half brother Thime through the fence.

"C'mon, take my hand." Her voice rang in Pug's ear, "Ugh! When'd you get so fat Thime!"

"It's not fat!" Thime snarled, " It's this stupid over sized hoodie I bought in Vale!"

Thime was a faunus too, a wolf faunus with a short temper for anything that crosses him. Neatly cut green hair was spiked up slightly from the mild application of gel. It covered one of his wolf ears, the other one listening intently for any sounds. His white hoodie was most definitely oversized, like _really_ oversized. White fur wrapped around his hands, wolf medallions hanging from his wrists. His weapon, Lars Virtua, were medallions that transformed his hands into mechanized wolf heads frozen forever in a snarl.

Professor Bourbon knelt over the assassinated bodies, his long trench coat covering his legs. It made him look like an large pine cone.

"These sentries don't look like the White Fang." The professor said, examining the bodies.

"How? You sure old guy?" Prim asked.

"Yes, see, no masks, no faunus features, and no insignia." Professor Bourbon turned the body over, "Wait, here it is. Upper left shoulder, a felt badge with the red wolf on it... That's odd. I never heard of humans rallying with the White Fang. Considering what the White Fang aims to achieve..."

"Door!" Malva hissed, drawing Tars Iniquia. She dispatched the patrolling guard and hid his body behind a dumpster.

Professor Bourbon stood up, brushing his hands off. "This is really quite odd. No matter, on with the mission. Mr. Vulken, be prepared to cover us if things don't go our way."

"Roger. Prim? "

"Yeah?" She replied, eyeing his position.

"Be careful." Pug said. Prim snorted and laughed.

They disappeared into the warehouse. Pug hovered his sniper rifle around the length of the dockyard. Large metal storage crates were placed around the area of the docks, from Pug's position it looked like a maze. The only clearing was by the water, where a single bullhead could land.

He fingered a button that was pinned to his dark yellow shirt, his caramel jacket covering it just slightly. It was a black button with a yellow flaming heart as the decal. His friend Yang gave it to him, to commemorate five years of being best friends. Pug wondered how she was doing on her mission. Surely it would be an easy task, Team RWBY proved to be an extremely lucky team with some of the best fighting techniques he has ever seen.

And yet he still worried, in the back of his mind he couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was going to wavered into his mind as he put his arms in auto pilot mode, scanning the area around the warehouse for threats.

* * *

A car drove past a group of students sitting outside of a bakery, their eyes poured over textbooks. Pencils were in their hands, scribbling notes and writing answers on their papers.

"So what's the answer for number thirteen? I'm stuck on that one." Jaune said as he took a bite into a muffin.

"I got that you should analyze the situation before engaging." Pug sipped his tea, a sweet yet bitter mix.

"Really?" Pyrrha exchanged a look with Pug, her green eyes looking at him quizzically. "I thought it said in the textbook that when a group of Nevermore was sighted, you only intervene when necessary. Main focus should be not to agitate them."

"Argh, pooooooooo..." Ruby huffed, resting her head on her textbook.

"Didn't get the answer? Don't worry, same here." Jaune smiled and finished his muffin.

"Noooo, I just don't get this." She stared at him with her silver eyes. "Fighting Grimm is easy, but they make it sooo complicated."

"Haha, I feel you." Pug laughed, sipping his tea again. "C'mon, you want more snacks? I'll get you one."

"Yes pleease!"

"We'll be fat if we keep doing this on a daily basis..." Pyrrha muttered, patting her stomach.

"Ooh, get one for me too?" Jaune spoke, wiping his mouth and taking a swig from his drink

"Roger that smooth talker." Pug said as he left, waving finger guns at Jaune. Pyrrha giggled and returned to her textbook.

Pug came back with a handful of pastries for Jaune, Pyrrha, and him. For Ruby, he bought a strawberry milkshake and a jammed filled treat. She ate and slurped her shake happily as poured over her textbook again. Pyrrha helped herself to one and Jaune eagerly grabbed another as he flipped his textbook page.

"Pyrrha, we can always overtrain Jaune here if we want to lose weight." Pug himself grabbed one and bit into it's jam filled interior.

* * *

The earpiece cracked to life again, a loud whirring emanating in his ears. Pug tensed his toes, the sound much too loud for his left ear to handle. He braced through it, trying to listen to anything that might be coming from the whirring. A garbled noise came, drowned out by the static that seemed to fill Pug's head.

"... Help!" It called in a distorted voice. " … P! … In! … Ken! … Help!... Dang … Se..."

The voice spoke gibberish. Pug whipped his rifle to point at an opening door from the warehouse. He instantly recognized Primrose's two light pink buns as she ran out. In her hands was a solid white briefcase, smeared with blood.

The alarm rang out, a robotic whine that repeated endlessly. From farther in the docks, doors opened and he saw the white masks belonging to the White Fang. They had weapons in their hands as they made their way to Team PPMT down below.

Pug stared in silent horror as Thime and Malva dragged a body out of the warehouse together. It was Professor Bourbon, or, whatever was left of him. The half siblings were covered in blood as they followed behind Prim.

"Pugon! Cover fire, we've been compromised!" Prim yelled into her receiver.

Pug turned the cylinder above his fingers. A carbon copy of the cylinder on Weiss's Myrtenaster, it clicked as it settled upon ice Dust. Running down the length of the storage crates was a katana wielding White Fang, he was going to run into Prim at the T intersection.

He pulled the trigger and felt the pressure in his ears skyrocket. The explosion came much later, the katana wielding man frozen and dead with a clean shot in the head. Pug's ears rang as he scanned the area around his team, small explosions coming from the end of Bad Luck.

He watched Prim run along the long lengths of walls that were large metal storage crates stacked on top of one another. The rest of her team and Professor Bourbon were behind her. She turned left and collided with a man. The White Fang member raised his pistol, only to receive a frozen head as a bullet penetrated his skull.

She sighed in relief and continued running.

One by one White Fang members dropped. Pug effectively killed them as they came, more came and tripped over the bodies of the fallen. This time when he pulled the trigger, nothing came out. It was empty. Pug released the mag and inserted another one like he practiced. He pulled the bolt within two seconds of being empty and fired at the one he had missed.

Team PPMT found themselves at the clearing beside the water. They were surrounded by the oncoming trickle of masked fighters. Malva held them off the best she could with one arm, popping and shooting any that came behind her.

They were trapped.

Even Pug's exceptional marksmanship couldn't save them from the torrents of fighters that rose behind the dead. He fired again and nailed a brute, freezing him, stopping him from overwhelming his team.

"Guys? The briefcase is ticking!?" Prim shouted, her voice quavering with panic.

"Get to the water! I'll hold them back." Malva yelled back.

"What's in this thing!?" Prim knelt on the ground and opened the brief case, then uttered a low moan, "Oh no..."

Pug focused on her position as Prim took steps back. He could make out the vivid red of a countdown clock. It was a set up, the briefcase was a ticking time bomb.

"Run!" Prim shouted, helping her team move Bourbon to the water. "Pugon, we've got to go! Mission failure! Mission failure!"

Pug transformed his mechanized sniper rifle into a small hand revolver. He pulled the chamber down and loaded a single bullet into the slot. It shut with a click and he pulled the hammer down just as Prim shouted something.

"Meet us at the airshi-" Static filled his ears.

The building he was in rattled and shook. Pug ran back to the window and was blinded by the light that shined from the docks. The explosion reached his ears shortly after as he stared at where his team used to be. They could have made it to the water, but he didn't recall hearing splash before the static.

Pug pulled out his Scroll and looked at the Aura gauges of his teammates. They were empty, precisely at zero. It could be interference, he assured himself. Pug waited with Bad Luck back into it's sniper rifle form, he wanted to be sure they were alive. It shouldn't have taken them more than five minutes to reach the shore. He waited ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, and then half an hour. No one was appeared from the water, dripping wet with a mauled professor in their arms. He checked his Scroll again. The same thing greeted his eyes, everyone's Aura gauge was empty except his, which was full and bright green.

Something moved behind him. A flash of white light accompanying the movement.

Pug turned and saw a shadow in the small room he was in. He twisted and fired, the explosion lighting up the room. The bullet sank into the wall beside a tri-colored haired girl. Who smirked at him with dark eyes. Pug reloaded and fired again, the mysterious woman dodging his bullets from point blank range.

In her hands was an umbrella, much resembling Prim's parasol. She lunged forward and thrust with her umbrella. With a sharp clank it bounced off of Bad Luck. They fought against each other in the small room, Pug forced to block her every move and waste bullets into the wall.

She pulled a low sweep and knocked him flat on the floor. Pug pushed himself up and howled, her heel slamming in his hand. She lifted her foot and brought it down again, twisting her foot and digging her heel into his hand. With her other foot, she sharply kicked him at the base of his spine, maniacally smiling when she heard something snap.

With sudden vigor, Pug pushed her off him, almost succeeding at knocking her off her feet, had she not hooked her umbrella around his neck and threw him down instead. With the toe of her shoe, she kicked him in the neck and watched as he spluttered and rolled out of the way. Pug got up and wielded Bad Luck like a club.

The woman was a seriously skilled fighter to be able to move that swiftly around. His feelings were confirmed when she high kicked him in the chin and spun her umbrella around.

The tip of the umbrella was sharp and nicked his cheek. Pug drew back and felt his cheek, his hand speckled in blood. The woman silently laughed to herself. Pug twisted and tried clubbing her head, but faster than he could recognize. A loud snap was heard and he felt the gut wrenching pain of something in his gut.

The woman had snapped his rifle with her heel and pirouetted around him in less than a second. A narrow and long blade was embedded in his stomach, Pug stared shakily at the blood covered tip that was level with his nose. He felt the chilling movement of air beside his ear as the woman giggled right beside him.

She drew her sword out with a long shhling and pushed him against the window. Pug's world span as he tried to focus on anything but the pain welling in his stomach. Deep breaths, deep breathes. The woman leaned closer to him, somehow sexually pleased by his pain. She forced him to look into her eyes, colored black from the darkness, with a finger pushing his chin up. Pug felt the firm pressure of her lips as she pecked him on his own.

 _I died by the hands of a sadist, great._

He felt weightless as she threw him from the building. His life flashed before his eyes, most notably the dance.

* * *

The ballroom was bustling with students as they were hand in hand, slow dancing their way closer to their dance partners. Then of course you had the oddballs who did their own thing, dancing to their own beat... Like Team JNPR, who, led by Jaune in a frilly white dress, pulled off an amazing dance stunt. It made the three of them laugh; Ruby, Yang, and him, despite how awkward they felt when Jaune winked at them.

Ruby pointed out Weiss's position. She was enjoying a dance- if you could call it that- with Neptune. They laughed and for the first time in awhile, Pug saw that Weiss was blushing. Not too far from them, by the punch bowl, stood Sun and Blake. They looked to enjoy themselves as they initiated in a cheerful conversation.

By Yang's request, the three of them made their way back to the entrance. Along the way down the stairs, Pug asked Yang a question- a rather important question.

"Hey Yang?"

She turned around, looking absolutely stunning in her white dress. Yang raised an eyebrow, her lilac eyes looking at his with wonderment.

"Do you... Have a dance for-"

"I danced with Blake earlier. Why do you ask?"

Ruby snickered and winked from behind Yang, she tip toed out. Pug felt the heat rise up to his cheeks, feeling all the more uncomfortable in his suit.

"How about me and you..." He offered Yang a hand. "Dance for... a bit?"

It took a moment before it sank in for Yang. She blushed, looking out at the crowd of students on the dance floor. With sudden gusto, she took his hand and pulled him closer. Pug was only a head taller than her. And they danced. They slow danced their way back to the entrance, so Yang could continue her duties as a hostess.

Steel gray eyes intensely stared at lilac eyes, whom stared back with the same amount of intensity. Pug's heart was beating out of his chest. Everything was hot, the room was scorching. Pug was sure his suit was soaked from his sweating.

Eventually they slowed down and just cradled each other. Yang rested her head on Pug's shoulder, her long golden hair in his face. They slowly spun around in a circle, enjoying the moment to the fullest.

"That was nice Goldilocks, I enjoyed it." Yang whispered into his ears.

"Me too, Blondie."

"Mmm." Yang's heart was beating out of her chest too. She was worried that Pug might have felt her chest thumping. She looked him in the eyes.

"I-I dunno how I feel about you." Yang said as she pushed him away slightly. "I mean, I-I like you- as a friend. You're nice, and cool, and you get my jokes, but... I don't know. I don't know how I feel about this."

"It's fine if you want to be just friends, I don't mind."

"But," Yang looked at her heels. It made her taller, her forehead reaching Pug's nose. "What if I don't want to be just friends?"

"I'm not pressuring you," Pug smiled.

"Promise me something, Goldilocks."

"Sure, lay it on me."

"Promise me you'll challenge me to Remnant : The Game this weekend."

"I promise, Blondie, and I'll win too."

Yang looked up, a sudden ferocity in her eyes. "Another dance?" She asked, or rather demanded.

They interlocked fingers and danced again. After the dance they spent a long time cuddling in each other's arms.


	2. A2 Chase

The door to Cinder Fall's dorm opened, and walked in a well-built, tall blue haired male. He wore a Beacon school uniform, part of his disguise. His hair was messy and covered his ears, something Cinder found to be quite... adorable. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. The door closed behind him as he took a seat on an empty bed.

"Azure Sky," Cinder's smooth alto voice rang out. "It's a pleasure meeting you again after so long."

Azure turned to face the pale Atlas transfer student. Her dark hair was drawn over her shoulder, and she stared at him with eyes that resembled balls of fire. The Mistral uniform fit her quite well, adding to her curvaceous figure.

"Sup Cinder," Azure smirked and winked his turquoise eyes at her amber ones. Emerald and Mercury let out a groan of annoyance, perching themselves beside their leader. Cinder crossed her legs and winked back at him, a sly smile growing on her face. "Whatcha want me for? Certainly not about Neopolitan, is it?"

"Precisely what I called you for," Cinder opened her Scroll, a special one for her and her comrades. It was jet black, the yellow diamond that served as a power button was replaced with a red ball of flame. She opened up Neo's text. "Neo's mission was to raise tensions with that Professor... Goodwitch was it? It seems to have worked. The professor was seen fuming around the halls about a missing team; Most definitely about Team Peppermint's disappearance earlier tonight."

"I don't see the problem. Cinder, babe, I'm more of the killer kind of guy."

"One's still alive." Emerald said and rolled her eyes.

"Oh," Azure leaned forward and placed an elbow on his leg, resting a thumb under his chin. "So, I'm cleanup crew."

"Yep." Emerald popped. Cinder airily laughed.

"Right... So, what's the plan?" Azure asked.

"Just kill him, " Mercury shrugged. "Keep your hands clean as possible."

"Right..." Azure stood up and walked to the door.

"Farewell Azure, an email has been sent to your phone with the details." Cinder smiled.

Azure closed the door behind him and went straight to his dorm. He opened the door and headed straight to his closet. His female partner Sierra kicked her legs idly on the bed, pink headphones on her short brown hair. She was watching a movie on the television. Some stupid flick probably.

"Where are you headed at this time?" She called out, a little loud for her sleeping team. Sierra pushed her headphones askew, multitasking and watching The Vale Horror Stories and listening for his answer.

"Ah, just heading outside for a jog." Azure smirked and took off his shirt, revealing his toned body. Sierra glanced at his abs, but immediately diverted her eyes. He threw a black hoodie on and stuffed a handkerchief in his pocket.

"At three in the morning? Funny, you usually sleep till ten; When we have to pull you out of the bed. Is this about that text message you received?"

"Sierra babe, I can take care of myself." Azure slid next to her, placing an arm around her shoulder. She scooted away, and Azure reacted by scooting closer.

"Stop calling me babe, and what's this about?" Sierra brown eyes met his, her brow furrowed. His fingers snaked along her body.

"Babe-"

Sierra pushed him away, her face a mix of disgust and anger. Azure smirked, almost getting the jackpot. She sneered.

"Touch me there again and I'll break your fingers." She snarled, " Get out, don't even come back disgusting pervert. "

"Fine." Azure winked and put on his hood. "You know you like me, babe."

Azure laughed as he dodged a pillow thrown by Sierra. He closed the door behind him and could hear her picking up the pillow, angrily muttering to herself. Azure laughed silently, walking along the dorm halls.

He opened his jet black Scroll and inserted a small fluctuating black and purple chip inside. Navigating CynderOS was easy, having designed it himself with a partner back in Atlas. He tapped the messages app and read the text Cinder had sent him.

 _Sky,_

 _Target is Neo's sniper, code named Eagle. He was last seen in Vale's industrial area, around the alleyways. Neopolitan did enough to him so that Eagle shouldn't be much of a problem. I'm trusting you with this Sky, and you know I don't tolerate failure._

 _See you for ice cream some time._

 _Love, Cinder_

He exited the message and saw a new one just above it, from Neo. He tapped it open and closed it, not feeling interested in reading what the tri-colored sadistic mute had to say. Azure admitted to himself that the mute did have a sexy body, but not as curvaceous at Cinder. He pulled up TelePORT, an app he had created to work with the black and purple chip he had inserted. Dialing a geographic location, he pressed the green enter button and felt himself free falling.

Azure landed gracefully into a roll as he felt the ground below him. He appeared on the dark streets of south-western Vale; in the industrial district. Eagle was supposed to be around here somewhere, running along like a wounded deer. Azure wrapped the handkerchief around his face and jumped three stories up onto a roof. Phone in his hands, he entered the ThermALL app and scanned the buildings around him.

ThermALL and TelePORT were of Azure's creation. Used back in Atlas to track down vagrant hackers that stole information between the warring Dust businesses. TelePORT worked with a special and very rare Dust chip that he had manufactured, allowing him to bend the elements around him and seamlessly teleport. ThermALL was simply a setting of the Scroll's camera that he had hacked open.

In the distance, a red humanoid blot stood out from his blue tinted surroundings. Zooming in, it developed the features of a human, arms and legs surrounded by yellow,orange, and green. The figure used the wall as support before continuing on. It moved from wall to wall, stumbling and staggering along. It left hands and foot prints as it went. Red dripped from it's body, staining the asphalt with red dots that quickly faded to blue. The figure collapsed and became a red blot on the ground. It pushed itself up and continued down the alleyways.

Azure laughed silently and put away his Scroll. He followed the figure, jumping from roof to roof. He landed deftly on the edge of the roof above the figure, his target. His eyes had trouble seeing into the darkness, but he could make out the outline of Eagle as he stumbled again. Azure laughed silently again.

He brushed his blue hair back behind his ears when the earpiece spoke to him. He recognized the smooth alto voice of Cinder.

"Sky," She paused, almost relishing the silence."How are things?"

"Perfect- Just like you. I'm following Eagle as we speak." Azure whispered, eyes following Eagle.

"That's good to hear." He could hear Cinder's smooth giggle.

Eagle suddenly bolted down the alleyway.

"He's on the move, spotted me." Azure ran after him, jumping from roof to roof.

"Finish him quickly and cleanly."

Neo's sniper- Eagle ran along the alleys, dodging and weaving in and out of Azure's sight. He was fast, especially for someone who survived the likes of Neopolitian. _Ah, Neo. Why do you play with your food like so?_ He could see blood drip from Eagle's wound even from up here.

Azure jumped to the ground and followed on foot. He leaped over the fence and watched Eagle vault over a trashcan. Azure mimicked his moves efficiently. Eagle crossed the street, staggering on his own two feet. The shadow climbed over a fence and continued running. Azure promptly followed and closed the distance between the two.

Eagle spun around just as Azure's hand reached the collar of his jacket. He threw a punch and caught Azure in the jaw. Azure reeled, surprised the shadow knew exactly when to turn. Eagle took a fighting stance and bounced on his toes.

A light from down the alley illuminated Azure's surroundings dimly. Neo's sniper was dressed in a dark yellow shirt and an even darker jacket. His hair was black, with noticeably lighter streaks running though the base of his hair. His face was concealed by the darkness, Azure couldn't make out any details.

Eagle threw another punch and Azure deftly dodged it, returning with a right hook to the jaw. Eagle reeled and stared Azure in the eyes with a steel gray ferocity. Azure danced around him, fists raised in a defensive position. They fought, Azure using low kicks and fast jabs to knock down and wind Eagle. Eagle dodged and focused on trying to knock him unconscious in a swift blow, missing quite horribly.

Azure jeered at him, watching the ferocity in his eyes spike intensely. "Your punches really suck, you know that?"

He punched Eagle in the lower jaw, snapping his teeth together.

"Scr-ew. Yo-ou." Eagle spat vehemently and bloodily.

Azure blocked another sloppy punch thrown by Eagle by grabbing his left hand. To his surprise, Eagle's hand felt like jelly, crunching inside. His opponent's hand was shattered and broken.

Azure laughed aloud. _Ah Neo, never satisfied until someone screams in sheer pain... Ah, I see now. That explains a lot... I'll never understand that mute's choices._

Eagle wrenched his broken hand from Azure's grasps with a shrill howl. He dodged another attack from his raven haired opponent. Sweat trickled down Eagle's dirt caked face.

In one fluid move, Azure blocked his opponent's swing and pulled out a folded mechanized blade. It unraveled into a long blade that reached his chin when placed vertically on the floor. Eagle saw the blade and reacted with a jab to the stomach, Azure dodged easily and ate an unexpected fist from his shattered hand.

"Eat a knuckle sandwich!" Eagle gritted through his teeth.

Azure's weapon clattered on the asphalt ground as his opponent tried for it. The mission was taking longer than expected, so Azure stomped on the raven haired opponent's hand and jammed a knee into his face. He grabbed the back of Eagle's jacket and forced him against the wall. Azure grinded Eagle's face into the bricks. A scraping noise could be heard, but Azure ignored it as he brutally slammed Eagle into the bricks with a crunch.

Eagle went limp as a streak of blood stretched along the brick wall. Azure stopped and felt Eagle's pulse, it was beating weakly, far too weak for him to be able to sustain by himself. Azure nodded, satisfied with his work. He let his opponent loose and watched Eagle crumple uncomfortably against the wall, his nose resting against the bricks.

A metal trinket tinkled on the floor.

Two days later, a trash-collector was doing his routine pass. Taking the trash bags from the cans he moved them pair by pair to the dump truck. The road glistened with puddles as reflections of passing cars drove over them. The morning sky was gray, overcast, and hazy. Fitting for what almost everyone in Vale was thinking at the time.

The trash-collector had his hood drawn over his head, in case the sky decided to pour rain again. He hefted another pair into the back of the dump truck and made his way back into the maze of alleyways. Something caught his eye not too far from a fence. The trash-collector made his way there hesitantly, scared to find a creature of Grimm or a dead body. Especially now if anything, who wasn't scared of the recent Grimm breach into Vale's main square?

It still surprised him how they could attack from the center, let alone even break into Vale.

He found a dead boy slumped against the brick wall, his head leaning against the bricks. Moving him so the trash-collector could get a better view of the boy, he saw the most horrid thing that someone would have to come across in his life. Whoever got their hands on this child was relentless and had their sick fun with him. Poor parents, to come and find your son in this kind of condition... The trash-collector refrained from thinking of his own children.

He searched the dead boy for any signs of a phone or a location he could bring it too. His left pocket contained a full pouch of lien, counting to a total of 320 lien. That was a keeper, the trash-collector pocketed it and continued searching the body. A broken Scroll came from the boy's back pocket, unusable and drenched in water. The man cursed and tossed it.

Then he came across a peculiar symbol printed onto the back of the boy's torn caramel jacket. It was a picture symmetric dark yellow dandelion chopped in half. This boy was a Beacon student, and it seems that he had met his fate against a creature of Grimm. The trash-collector lifted the boy into his arms and dragged him back to the dump truck.

His partner cast a lazy eye over to him, then spit out his coffee once he saw what was in his hands. "Zilar, whadda bring this time? How much is _that_ going to fetch?"

Zilar sneered at him, "Nothing, but we can bring him to his grave, Skah."

"Lame... You growin soft-hearted for them hunters? After what they did? Zilar, a horde of Grimm broke into Vale."

"So? How's it their fault? Blame the government and their inability to properly construct streets." Zilar sat in the middle and loaded the boy by the door

"So... We're actually bringing him to Beacon?"

"Nah, We'll ditch him somewhere close. Someone else'll do it. I snagged 320 lien from him anyways."

"Nice."

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch was already having a rough day. Rain came down in a steady torrent outside, beating against the windows. She stormed down the hall, a group of students ahead playing with a loaded soda can. With a flick of her horse crop, the soda flew back into a boy's hand. She glared at him as she passed, a hushed jeer arose from behind her. Glynda continued forward.

"Gee, Professor Crankywitch is at it again."

Something urgent needed her attention and she was being drawn away from that very particular thing. Two nights ago Professor Bourbon's Aura dropped from a hundred to zero in four seconds. Then within the next half an hour, she watched as Team Peppermint's Aura's dropped from a hundred to zero. All except for one boy ; Pugon Jinn Vulken still had a hundred percent Aura for half an hour following the sudden drop in his team's. Then his too dropped from a hundred to _one_.

It dropped precisely to one, and stayed their for the entire night. Glynda had lost contact with all of Team PPMT, their mission was supposed to be done approximately three days ago on Monday. Their mission, along with a couple of other teams started on Saturday. With the Grimm breach happening yesterday, on Wednesday, she found it hard to believe in a chance that this boy might be alive.

Nurse Inkwell needed her for that exact thing. Glynda's lips dipped into a frown as she examined the boy. Disheveled raven hair with streaks of blonde were matted with dry blood. His clothes were tattered, ripped, dirty, and also covered with dried blood. The condition of his body was absolutely horrendous, she'd been teaching at Beacon for awhile, yet no injuries came close to what she saw in front of her. Various tubes and wires were connected to his body, his heart monitor beeping monotonously.

"You were searching for what happened to Team Peppermint." Nurse Inkwell solemnly spoke, "I think this is sufficient enough evidence to conclude upon an answer."

"Yes, it is." Glynda said, "Where are the others?"

"Not a clue Glynda," Nurse Inkwell set down her cap and let down her jet black hair. "He was found on the streets like this. His heart was barely pumping any blood. His team wasn't anywhere around him, nor was Professor Bourbon."

"I have faith in your healing Semblance."

"You better Glynda, " Nurse Inkwell's red lips smirked on her tanned face. "I patched up a lot of your own wounds when we were little too."

Inkwell walked to her desk and pulled her tablet Scroll out. She brushed past the many files she had on it and settled on one that detailed a little more about what happened during Team Peppermint's mission.

"I think this might shed some more light." Inkwell held the tablet in front of Glynda and played the audio file. The nurse skipped around until she settled on half an hour before the end.

"Mr. Vulken, please take care not to notify everyone inside of the warehouse of our presence. We're to retrieve the package like a ghost; no alarms." Professor Bourbon's voice rang out.

Inkwell skipped a few minutes further.

"Yes, see, no masks, no faunus features, and no insignia." Glynda heard something thump, "Wait, here it is. Upper left shoulder, a felt badge with the red wolf on it... That's odd. I never heard of humans rallying with the White Fang. Considering what the White Fang aims to achieve..."

"Door!" Came another voice, not too far from Bourbon. Glynda faintly heard the sound of a body being dragged.

Bourbon brushed his hands. "This is really quite odd. No matter, on with the mission. Mr. Vulken, be prepared to cover us if things don't go our way."

"Roger. Prim?" Came 's voice.

"Yeah?" The voice known as Prim whispered.

"Be careful." The boy said. Prim snorted and laughed.

Glynda listened to the sound of a heavy door open and creak close. Footsteps moved around Bourbon, before a voice rang out.

"Shame it had to come this way." The voice was feminine, that Glynda was sure, with a touch of malice in it.

Then the audio log whirred and screeched. Distorted sounds came from it. A garbled voice spoke to her, the sound sending chills to her spine. It called for help. Suddenly it went quiet, Glynda could hear the tapping of heels on the concrete floor.

"Pugon! Cover fire, we've been compromised!" Prim's voice rang out.

Glynda looked at Inkwell, who seemed to have read her mind.

"If you think it's the girl, you're mistaken." The nurse fast forwarded the audio log.

"Guys? The briefcase is ticking!?" Prim shouted.

"Get to the water! I'll hold them back." Glynda recognized it as the same voice who said 'door'.

"What's in this thing!?" Prim said, then moaned. "Oh no..."

Glynda could make out the ticking noise of a bomb through the rattle of guns and the bangs of a sniper rifle.

"Run!" Prim shouted, the briefcase gritting along the concrete. "Pugon, we've got to go! Mission failure! Mission failure!"

"Meet us at the airshi-"

Static.

Inkwell closed the tablet and set it back on her desk. Glynda processed what she had just heard. The White Fang? The terrorist group had planted a decoy for Team Peppermint's recovery mission. Even if they were a terrorist group, Glynda never saw them moving past robberies and fire bombing anti-faunus stores. That would explain the Breach yesterday...

"So Team Peppermint fell ill to a bomb."  
"That's what Bourbon's audio log reported, but as you see, someone survived."

"Mr. Vulken was a sniper, he wasn't anywhere near the explosion to be affected by it." Glynda looked at the boy.

"Well, when I was contacted by Vale's hospital, he was found in this condition. I haven't preformed an examination yet, but I think it's obvious the boy was in a fight and lost."

"I never would have expected the White Fang to be capable of such... violence." Glynda said.

"Could be the White Fang, and it couldn't be. You heard what Bourbon said. Humans with the White Fang insignia."

"What troubles me is why they would plant a decoy like that."

"Maybe they knew hunters and huntresses would try to liberate it, instead of VPD."

"Maybe. I certainly hope we're not going to be dealing with a wannabee White Fang organization..." Glynda walked out of the infirmary.


	3. Y3 Emotions

Inside of the amphitheater, Yang stood in front of the mission board. Team RWBY stood behind, their gazes boring a hole into her neck. No matter, it's been five days since her best friend Pug disappeared, seven if she counted the day he was supposed to come back. Every day that passed without seeing him made her feel more and more hopeless.

Three boxes appeared on the hologram. She tapped the third box and typed on the keyboard that materialized in front of her. Typing in Peppermint yielded her with one result, she pressed it and pursed her lips. Team Peppermint was still counted as Missing in Action. Four rectangular boxes appeared on top of one another, each containing a team member and some information regarding the individual. Everyone was still the same, MIA and zero percent Aura.

The blonde fighter sighed and tapped her way back to the menu. She stepped back and went to her team. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake looked at her worriedly. Yang mustered a weak smile, patting Ruby on the back.

"I'm sure he's fine." She lied to herself.

In a lot of ways, Pug rubbed off in a good way to all of them. Even in the short moments he spent with Zwei, they both became buddies. He was good friends with almost everyone that Yang knew, and he was also a person she could trust to babysit Ruby. Pug even had something in common with Blake; He read books every night. They usually were seen trading books, from fantasy novels to the rather explicit ones.

Even Weiss had something in common with the boy! Pug's parents used to own a mutli-million Lien business company, almost like the Schnee Dust Company. However, something seemed to happen to the business, and it permanently shut down. Yang had yet to ask him about it during one of their training sessions at the gym, she doubted that she'd ever get the chance to.

Team RWBY walked down the halls to their first class with Professor Peach. Blake glanced at the blonde constantly before resting a hand on her shoulder.

"Do you need time... Alone?" Blake asked, giving Yang some comfort. She was glad fate paired her up with the faunus, they were best friends now after all that had happened.

"I'm fine Blake." Yang smiled at Blake and pulled a glued-together button from her pocket.

The button was one of Yang's only memoirs of her friend, who had been with her since her second year at Signal. It came to her shattered in a letter, delivered by a fellow first year named Azure. It was difficult to comprehend once she found out what it was. The blonde remembered staring at it for a long time, before Blake broke her out of her trance. She felt the same wallowing sadness in her when she found out her mother left her. Except with this one, she knew the most logical thing that could have happened to him.

"It's been five days now- I'm sure he's fine Yang." Weiss comforted, popping up beside Yang.

"Yeah, he should be fine." Yang smiled and put away the button. _He better be fine,_ she thought.

Ruby, unlike her usual self, was silent. She walked ahead of them, possibly trying to sort out the feelings in her heart. Pug was one of her very first friends at Beacon, the other one being Jaune. Yang walked up beside her sister and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"It'll be fine Ruby. He'll come back, I'm sure of it." Yang comforted her sister.

"Mhm." Ruby sounded.

"So," Blake looked at her team. "We ready for sparring lessons later today?"

Ruby, suddenly snapping out of it, fist pumped the air, "Yeah! I'm ready for it!"

"I heard one of the transfers boasted about fighting yesterday. I'm interested to see how they fare." Weiss said.

"Hopefully he's more interesting than the last guy." Yang chuckled.

They walked into Professor Peach's class and learned about the beneficial values of harvesting bait and effectively using it to neutralize a Grimm threat. Yang zoned out sometime during the lesson, staring at Ruby's notes of the now deceased Professor Bourbon. Her sister drew a large pine cone with stick arms and a fedora holding large bottles. Weiss glared at Ruby, Blake chuckled while she actually took notes. When the class was over, they were assigned a rather lengthy homework assignment from the textbook.

Their next class would be Professor Bourbon and his survivability lessons. Since he was gone, Professor Goodwitch taught them. She referred to a book on the desk detailing the differences between safe and raw meats. Then she went on and explained how certain moves could prolong bleeding and how everyday items can be used to stem wounds. When the class was all over and done with, they were assigned a paper with forty questions.

Professor Port taught them another Grimm lesson. Detailing weak points and tactics to fight them. Today he introduced another species of Grimm that were rarely seen and very dangerous. It was huge, spanning two hundred feet and lived underwater. He was in the middle of explaining how the monster came to be so, when he branched off into his own stories. Luckily, they didn't get assigned a long and hard homework assignment from Port, instead he told them to read chapter 34.

Weiss sighed in relief and Ruby shared her expression. At this time of day, Ruby voiced her protests against the long walks from class to class and complained that her stomach was grumbling. Blake read her book between walks, managing to read a paragraph or two before looking up to avoid crashing into Weiss.

One more class before lunch for Monday. They had History of Remnant with Professor Oobleck. As usual, the green haired professor bounded left and right across the room. Team RWBY furiously scribbled into their notebooks, taking his information in word by word. Yang watched amusingly as Blake's cat ears squirmed behind her ribbon, trying to focus. They endured Professor Oobleck for an hour. Then they were assigned an essay... Ruby groaned as they walked back to their dorm.

"Too much...Homework... Weiss! Hold me!" Ruby dramatically sobbed.

"Ew! No, you dolt! It's just the usual amount, I don't see the difference!" Weiss quickened her pace and distanced herself from Ruby's outstretched arms.

"Awh Ruby, maybe next time." Yang joked, flashing a dirty look.

Weiss and Ruby shouted in unison, "Yang! No!"

They deposited their things on their beds and made their way towards the mess hall. Blake as usual, never left without a novel in her hand. Weiss made sure her hair was tied asymmetrically, and Ruby patted and rubbed Zwei happily. Yang gave him something to eat before they left together.

Outside their dorm, they greeted Nora and Ren as they walked together to lunch. Nora was talking about how a cow could possibly eat a watermelon whole, while Ren listened to her. Jaune was leaning against the wall of his dorm room as he waited for Pyrrha. Noticing Weiss, he scooted closer to her, flashing his teeth in a wide smile.

"Don't," Weiss raised a finger and stared at Jaune with her icy blue eyes. "Even think about it."

He pouted and the door to Team JNPR's dorm opened. Pyrrha closed the door behind her and waved. Yang smiled and walked ahead of their team with Ruby.

"Pyrrha?" Blake asked behind her. "What happened?"

Yang looked behind her to see a large bandage on Pyrrha's shin, the surrounding skin bruised. Pyrrha chuckled awkwardly and waved a 'don't worry about it' hand in the air. "It's-It's a long story. It'll heal by tomorrow."

Yang shrugged to her sister and they walked ahead of their team, a spring in their step. They were hungry for some food and they also had sparring lessons later in the day as well. Best have a strong and full stomach than a weak and empty one.

"Teeeeeeaaaam RWBY, off to lunch!" Ruby shouted valiantly, then added in a small voice. "Aand Jaune and Pyrrha!"

They all walked with a spring in their step, glad to be done with the grueling hours of lessons. The rest of their schedule consisted of sparring, and then it was to their dorms for the rest of the night to study and complete their assignments.

On they way they passed by Neptune and Sun, who were bantering about how a hover board would function as a weapon. Sun stared blankly at Blake as Neptune drilled facts into his mind. The monkey faunus placed a hand on Neptune's face, shutting him up. He walked over to Blake and smiled, accompanying her to the mess hall.

Neptune sighed and walked beside Weiss.

"Hey Snow Princess." Neptune smirked when Weiss gave him a look.

"How were classes for you, Neptune?" Weiss asked, feeling her heart flutter slightly when their eyes met.

"Oh the same old, same old. Yours?"

"Same." Weiss giggled awkwardly and looked ahead.

The mess hall was bustling with students as they savored their retreat with full trays of food. They entered the lunch line, gazing onto the choices they had to select from today. Weiss fidgeted with her feet, Neptune noticed and scratched the back of his head. Ruby's voice came from his right and he turned to see her drag Weiss further down the line, much to her protesting.

Yang snickered.

"Weeeissss! Look, these cookies look like Zweeeiiii!" Ruby jumped up and down on her toes, pointing frantically to a dish of Corgi shaped cookies. Whatever Weiss was going to say, she forgot and shared Ruby's expression of cuteness.

They grabbed their trays and sat down at one of the four long tables. Sun and Neptune waved goodbye and sat with their own teammates, bringing up the argument about the hover board to them. Weiss sat across from Ruby and stared agape at how fast Ruby was plowing through her lunch. Blake, sitting beside Weiss, closed her mouth and returned to her book.

"Ruby! Slow down, you'll choke!" Weiss snapped out of her trance and stuck a napkin into Ruby's hand.

"Mmfgmm" Ruby tried to speak with a mouthful, she swallowed and apologized. Yang smiled and ruffled her sister's hair.

Pyrrha came to their table, a dark expression on her face. She tapped Weiss and Blake's shoulder, drawing Blake away from her book.

"Will you two come with me for a second?" Pyrrha whispered. Blake nodded and rose, bookmarking her page and closing it. Weiss raised an eyebrow at her teammate. She grabbed a cookie from Ruby's tray, whom protested while munching on her own, and followed Blake and Pyrrha out.

"What's up with Pyrrha today?" Ruby asked her sister in between chews.

"Dunno." Yang replied. She felt as if she knew what it was, but she ignored the thought as she grabbed a Zwei shaped cookie. Ruby slapped her hand away, but Yang snuck her other hand to snatch two.

Weiss followed Pyrrha and Blake along the halls. Pyrrha was silent, almost fuming as she walked beside them. Weiss and Blake exchanged a worried look, before Weiss stopped in front of Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, what's going on?" Weiss asked, smoothing out her uniform. They stopped in the middle of the empty hallway, the sound of cheerful banter coming from the mess hall.

"It's-" Pyrrha croaked. Whatever this was it was important, Weiss never heard Pyrrha croak before except for that one time when she was sick. "It's Jaune's friend; Pug."

That was all Weiss needed to hear, she pulled Pyrrha along the halls. She wanted to know what happened to the boy as well, not for herself, but for Yang. Blake followed close behind. They turned left and entered a room.

The infirmary's lights bounced off it's white tiles, giving the room an unnatural glow but making everything appear smooth as glass. Pyrrha walked over to one of the draped operating tables and pulled the curtain aside.

Weiss and Blake stopped, a short exhale from their mouths. They were horrified at what they saw.

The cardiac monitor beside the head of the bed beeped weakly. It took a couple of seconds for it to beep again, the screen showing a small green spike. Following the spike the line became straight, unmoving until the next beep.

That didn't even begin to describe Blake's worry. The faunus moved closer to him, trembling at what became of someone she could relate to.

Pug was unconscious or asleep on the bed. Surgical tape covered his entire body except for his left eye, mouth, and right arm. The skin that showed was pale, very pale compared to his fair complexion. Weiss stared at him, her mouth open.

"That's vicious... And cruel, whoever-whatever did this." Weiss hissed to Pyrrha.

"What..." Blake couldn't finish her sentence.

Pyrrha handed her a clipboard, Blake took it and Weiss peered over her shoulder. It was the list of injuries that Pug had obtained. Weiss grimaced. The paper only further described how vicious and cruel Pug's attacker was.

 _Skull cracked in multiple areas, starting at right temple._

 _Lower jaw dislocated._

 _Moderate concussion._

 _Lacerations all over arms and legs._

 _Bruises all over body, evidence of a fight._

 _Mild cut on cheek._

 _Busted lip._

 _Split temple._

 _Shattered, but not broken ribs._

 _Tender liver, big bruise on skin._

 _Left hand bone shattered, arm socket dislocated._

 _Spine dislocated, vertebrae twisted._

 _Neck dislocated._

 _Shows difficulty breathing._

Yang's friend must have taken a severe beating. From who, she wondered. It couldn't have been the White Fang, because they were scattered following the Breach. It could be a Grimm, but that wasn't likely either, their mission was far from a dangerous part of Vale. Criminals maybe?

Weiss walked over to him, hovering beside the bed. Pug's skin felt clammy and cold, Weiss retracted her finger. Blake set down the clipboard without a word, Pyrrha patted her on the back. The faunus searched for something to say, but only managed a soft whimper.

"Who did this?" Blake softly asked.

"I don't know. " Pyrrha answered.

Weiss turned around and faced them, "He could have been attacked by a Grimm. As it said on the clipboard, there was evidence of a fight. If he was in the city, why didn't he call for help?"

"Could be he was outside of the city, running away." Blake answered.

"How'd you find him Pyrrha?" Weiss asked.

"I tripped over Jaune this morning... And I needed some bandages for a cut on my shin. I came here with Jaune and the drape was open just by a crack. I peeked in and saw him. He was awake, but all he did was stare at the ceiling."

Blake suddenly held a finger up in the air and silenced them. The faunus heard someone walk inside, and Weiss could hear the tap tap of heels on the tile floor. They all stayed silent, hoping the person would leave. A nurse popped into Pug's operating room, surprised when she saw the three girls.

"W-what are you doing here? Haven't you been taught that snooping in other people's business is wrong?" The nurse snapped, furious at them for taking her by surprise.

"I'm sorry Miss..." Weiss trailed, her icy blue eyes darting over the nurse's shirt. The nurse glared at Weiss with her dark brown eyes, her jet black hair let loose behind her back. Weiss didn't particularly want to meet the nurse's wrath. She didn't wear a name tag.

"Nurse Inkwell." Inkwell replied sharply.

"Miss Inkwell, we're his friends, and we couldn't help but to worry about him." Weiss continued.

The nurse understood and nodded. "Well, can't keep you children from finding out the fates of your loved ones."

"How's he doing?" Pyrrha asked.

"He's stable, I've been working 24/7 keeping my Aura levels up and then mending his wounds. He should most definitely be done healing in a couple of days. You need to leave.. and girls?"

The three turned back around, bracing themselves for any side effects or bad news that the nurse might throw at them.

"Don't tell anyone about his condition, please. He stressed that he didn't want people to know that he was incapacitated, he'll greet you in person when he's mended. Thank you girls, you may leave now."

Back in the mess hall, Ruby raised an eyebrow at them. Her previously empty plate of Zwei shaped cookies was now restocked. Weiss walked over to Neptune and engaged in a conversation, showing no signs of what just happened. Pyrrha sat beside Jaune and hunched close to him, despite the blonde still being head over heels for Weiss.

Blake's eyes met Yang's. Her teammate was staring at her with her brows arched and her lips twisted in a mischievous grin. Blake glanced behind her, wondering if she mistook the gaze as hers. Yang slowly raised a small rectangular book in her hands.

"So Blake, I never thought you were... _a connoisseur of such fine arts._ " Yang held the book up in clear view. Blake blushed and tried to grab it, only for Yang to tease her by keeping it out of her reach.

"No! Yang!" Blake stretched over the table, face red with embarrassment, her fingers only millimeters from the book's corners. Ruby snickered as she ate another cookie.

The next table over, Pyrrha sat beside Jaune, who drank from a juice box. The blonde boy looked at her despondently. Jaune was very close friends with Pug, that Pyrrha knew. They were essentially best bros since day one of Beacon. When the news that Pug had gone missing had reached Jaune, he took it seriously, feeling bad that he couldn't do anything to help. Although he tried not to let emotions take hold of his usual upbeat personality, he wasn't as successful as Yang did in hiding his true feelings.

"So..." He started, staring at the table and drinking juice. "How is he?"

"Who're you excited to see spar today Jaune?" Pyrrha changed the subject, pretending to not have heard him. It was so obvious that he was down, even Nora and Ren took notice. Although Pyrrha assumed they noticed a lot of things, they just didn't convey it.

"Is he doing okay? Pug, I mean." Jaune asked again.

She sighed and wrapped a hand around his shoulder.

"Jaune, he's doing fine. Don't worry about it."

He nodded, believing her. Or she hoped.

They left for the amphitheater once the bell rang. Jaune returned back to his upbeat personality and tried to hit on Weiss again, who glared daggers at him and only needed to raise a finger for him to retreat. They changed in the locker rooms and made themselves comfortable in front of the arena.

Professor Goodwitch lectured them again about the basics. She expressed the importance of being able to adapt to a situation in the battlefield. Where if one is overpowered, he or her must play a defensive or evasive. She also stressed the importance of playing battles safe and trying to keep risks minimal. Then Goodwitch opened it up for free sparring between students.

They sparred with each other and worked on their own mistakes for the duration of the class. Jaune still had to work on countering with his shield. He made good progress he had made during the mast few months, surviving for an average of two minutes on the battlefield.

Ruby and Yang found themselves against one another, a fierce battle between the two siblings commenced. The students all around placing bets on which sister would win. Pyrrha felt bad for those who bet a lot of lien on Yang, after a tense match, Ruby easily finished off her sister with her speed.

After class Team JNPR said their goodbyes and left for their dorms for a long night of studying and homework. Ruby bounced up and down, clearly pleased that she had won the match between her sister. Yang stopped by the door and cast a fleeting glance at the mission board.

"Can you guys wait for me? I'm going to check once more." Yang smiled and started off towards the mission board before Blake stopped her

"I think we should go back to the dorms, we've got a long night ahead of us." Blake said, pointing at the exit.

"This'll only take a minute Blake, no worries." Yang smiled and pushed her away.

Blake didn't move and stood in her way. Yang pushed her away again and continued for the hologram.

"No! Don't!" Blake said loudly, louder than she had intended.

Yang looked at her questioningly, her eyebrow arched. "Why not?"

"Because," Blake sighed, running out of words to deter Yang from proceeding. She spoke quickly, almost mixing her words together. "Zwei-misses-you-and-wants-to-hang-out?"

Yang nodded slowly. "Ookay..."

Yang navigated the menu like she did this morning. Blake bit her tongue, conflicted. One side of her wanted Yang to know what had happened to her friend and the other side of her didn't want to. Lightly tapping the holographic keyboard, Yang typed in 'Peppermint' , and searched it. One result came up and she pressed it. One by one the names came up.

They were all listed as Killed In Action.

She stepped back, terminating the screen, and walked back to her team. Yang smiled, but they all knew the pain in her heart. Especially Weiss and Blake.

"Ah well, nothing new." She shrugged and walked back to the dorm with Team RWBY following behind. Weiss exchanged a look with Blake, her question was clear to Blake without the need to word it out.

 _Let's talk for a minute later._

Back in their dorms, they changed into something comfortable and made themselves at home on their beds with books, papers, and pencils scattered about. They stabbed the essay for a few minutes before Weiss stood up, yawned, and stretched.

"I'm headed outside, want to come Blake? You seem exhausted yourself."

"Oh uh, sure." Blake stood up and followed her teammate out of the door.

They closed it and pressed their ears against the wooden board, listening for any signs of movement from within. Blake tuned her catlike senses and waved her hand, giving the signal that it was okay to converse.

"So, " Weiss placed her hands on her hips. "What's with the sudden change in Team PPMT's status? They were all Missing in Action this morning, and now they're dead?"

"Mysterious, it could actually be a Grimm attack that wiped them out. But then again, the White Fang could have a hand in this." Blake suggested.

"You think it's the White Fang? No offense, but after what we did with the train I think they'll be scattered for a while by the least."

The two talked about it for a short bit, greeting Ren with a wave as he walked back into his dorm with a cup of coffee. They decided to go back inside, having nothing else to discuss.

Blake closed the door behind her and Weiss stretched again, yawning. They sat back down and let the evening rays shine through along with the light from their lamps. They spent most of the night scribbling words and notes down onto papers and notebooks. Team RWBY finished sometime around midnight, the entire team dozed off, exhausted from the workload.

Weiss awoke and rubbed her bleary eyes. She stood up and opened the window a crack, letting the night breeze cool her face off. Closing her ice blue eyes, she enjoyed the wind's cold breath.

Someone mumbled beside her. At first she thought it was Blake, but when she peeked over, the faunus was sleeping peacefully hugging a book. She peered at the bed above. Yang was leaned against the wall, her head against her poster, hugging her adorable Corgi pillow.

Yang mumbled in her sleep quite frequently. Most of the time it wasn't noticeable, but recently she'd had this bad dream in which she spoke in a loud voice, stirring them all and asking questions such as 'Who're you?' , 'What do you want?' , and 'Answer me, why won't you!?'

This was different than that dream. Weiss looked closer and noticed that Yang was actually _drooling_. She was drooling on her poster, her lips slightly smooching it while she rubbed her Corgi pillow. Weiss suppressed the will to giggle and focused on what she was mumbling.

"Mmm, Zwei stop licking me..." Yang squeezed her pillow a little harder.

"Stay please." Yang smooched the poster and sniffed.

Weiss snickered, covering her mouth to avoid waking her teammates. She pulled out her Scroll and took a sneaky picture of Yang drooling on her Achieve Men poster, before turning and laying back in bed. It hard to sleep when she was listening to Yang's fantasy dream, but eventually he did.

Yang's friend was going to be okay, she was sure of it. Luck has always been on their side.


	4. P4 Recovery

Pug yawned and flipped the page of his book. Well, it was Blake's book that she had lent to him. It was... interesting. The story was about a rogue who saves a female knight, and over the course of the book they begin to develop a 'bond'.

He had been in Beacon's infirmary for a week now. Today was a good day, most of his surgical tape was taken off. Interestingly, before the surgical tape was wrapped around the wound, it was dipped in a pink paste-like substance. Nurse Inkwell said that it was a concentrated amount of Dust mixed with other chemicals to create a paste that heals wounds much faster than olden methods.

Before, the tape covered his entire body except for his left eye, mouth, and right arm. Now, it only covered his left arm and his chest. Pug relished the feeling of being able to cross his legs in bed as he flipped another page. He blushed and closed the book with a smack.

The scene he had came across was... saucy, so to put. Blake must have mixed the book she was supposed to give him with one of her 'personal' tales. Pug chuckled at the thought of that. That faunus sure did have an interesting taste in books- saucy books.

The heart monitor to his left beeped constantly and the Aura monitor to his right showed him at 60% Aura, the color a yellow-green. Pug sat up and set the book on the side desk. He stretched his free hand and yawned again. His taped up left arm could be bent to a certain degree, but Pug didn't want to break his arm again.

A couple days ago, when he was capable of speaking without slurring his words, Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch came to his bed. They asked him questions about the operation, what he did, what happened, and where his team was. Those were things he didn't want to think about. Pug answered their questions, Ozpin's face was calm and understanding, while Goodwitch's face was irritated. He might have cried angry tears during that time, but Pug didn't really want to think about it.

All he had gotten from that talk was a single thought; He was going to find out what happened and avenge his teammates.

During the week in which he was covered head to toe with surgical tape. Nurse Inkwell found it very crucial that he was sedated almost 24/7. He absolutely hated it. The syringe signaled that he would be trapped within his mind, forever stuck reliving his past or fantasizing about the future.

On the bright side, Pyrrha visited often. Usually every night she came and sat beside him, they shared a conversation, a conversation without words. Pyrrha was a good friend, well, any friend of Jaune Arc was a friend of his. Pug wondered if the redhead had any progress getting the blonde to open his eyes and date her.

He remembered when he first met Jaune. The blonde haired boy was wandering around the main avenue of Beacon on the first day, trying to hit on girls as they passed and called him Vomit-boy. Can't be cool with a nickname of Vomit-boy. Eventually he gave up and set his eyes for Weiss, who stormed off after Ruby had apparently set off some volatile Dust. Shortly before that, he had met Jaune. They chatted and watched the white haired girl storm off. Then Jaune came over to a girl in a black blouse with red trimmings, complete with a red cloak.

That was how he also met Ruby, Yang's little sister, and from then he met more and more people, sharing experiences that would never be forgotten. Today was Friday, for the students, it meant one last day before the weekend opened up to commutes in Vale. Homework assignments must be piling on his desk, Pug sighed, it would be tedious and hard to do them all. Laying back down seemed better for his spine. He grabbed Blake's saucy novel and began reading it again.

At eleven Nurse Inkwell came back in again. She had very noticeable bags under her eyes and she yawned loudly. Nurse Inkwell had worked her butt off all day and all night, resting until her Aura was in good enough condition to continue and then donating her Aura to his to mend his bones and fix cuts in his body.

She had a paper bag in her hands as she made herself comfortable in the chair beside him. A syringe was in the bag, pink liquid inside. The syringe hurt when she pricked it into his skin. Pug felt sleepy as his eyes drifted shut.

Hours later he awoke. It was five now, Nurse Inkwell was sleeping in the chair with a teal blanket covering her. She was pale and had even more noticeable bags under her eyes. Healing him must be a grueling process. She snored in her sleep.

The tapes along his left arm were removed, his forearm and hand still replaced with fresher ones. The tape on his neck and waist were removed, the one on his chest replaced. Something poked his thigh, Pug lifted the papery thin white sheet that covered him. It was Blake's book, he had forgotten that he had stuffed it under the covers.

A small transparent plastic box was on the side desk, inside was a velvet red cupcake with white frosting. A sticky note was on the front. Pug sat up and pulled it off, reading the elegantly written note.

It was a simple message.

 _Brought you a cupcake from lunch :)_

 _Get better Pug!_

 _From Pyrrha and Jaune._

Pug smiled. 'And Jaune' was written in a different handwriting; Jaune's himself. He opened the plastic box, glancing behind him to see if the noise had stirred Nurse Inkwell. She slept like a rock. He glanced at the cupcake, feeling his stomach shouting at him to eat it like a primal bear.

His stomach was stupid.

Pug drew the covers off him and set Blake's book beside the box. He pulled the wires and tubes off, his bare feet touched the cold floor. He made his way towards Nurse Inkwell's desk, passing the draped rooms of other students. Most were empty, except for two. Even then, they didn't have as serious wounds as Pug did. One had a concussion while the other one had just lost a lot of blood from not attending to his wound.

Nurse Inkwell's desk was messy. Papers and yellow filing folders were scattered about, dull and sharpened pencils scattered , and uncapped pens drying in the air. It took him some time to locate a batch of sticky notes. He scribbled a short message on it and pulled the sticky note off.

Back in his operating room, he left the drape open and closed the plastic box. Setting the sticky note down he made his way back to Nurse Inkwell's desk and placed it on top of the messy surface. The note was simple and he cast a fleeting glance at it, worried he might have written it wrong.

 _Thank you for all you've done for me._

 _Take a cupcake as a reward for all your hard work._

 _From Pugon, Pyrrha, and Jaune._

Pug took off the patient garbs and donned his old clothes. The fight that night was still evident on his shirt, jacket, and pants. His shoes were intact and dirty. He slipped them on after he pulled his torn and tattered pants up to his waist. Half of his pants were ripped clean off, his shins exposed. His shirt was ripped and the fabric was coarse, lint balls dotted the surface. Dry blood was on the shirt, mixed with the dark red blotch that pooled from the slit on his shirt. Dirt had made the dull yellow color of it a dark brown.

His jacket, well, his jacket wasn't going to be easily fixed. It was ripped in so many places Pug didn't even bother to count. Dirt and blood had become a permanent stain on the caramel leather, no amount of scrubbing could take it off fully.

Pug grabbed his jacket and made his way towards the Dorms. The air felt crisp outside as he walked through the campus. The Dorms was a three story building that housed all of the students, even the transfers from Vacuo, Atlas, and Mistral. Only a fourth of the building was given to the transfers, the rest belonged to Beacon.

The halls were empty as he scaled the steps to the third floor. Everyone must be in Vale enjoying time outside of Beacon's lecture halls and corridors. As he neared his dorm room, he suddenly realized that he didn't have his Scroll on him. A brief moment of panic washed over him as he tried the door. Surprisingly, the door was still open a crack, even though two weeks had passed since they left for their mission.

The room was empty and dark when he walked in. He turned on the lights to see the three vacant beds that sat like ghosts next to his. He sighed and felt his heart turn into stone. It was real, the explosion, whirring, Bad Luck being destroyed, and his team being obliterated. He felt something hot at the corner of his eyes, he wiped it off and forced himself to do what he had come here to do.

He changed into something suitable for jogging. He could use the wind in his face to bring him from his mind. Besides, his legs could use some motion after being bedridden for so long. He chose a red tank top with dark green athletic pants. He changed his shoes and sported white running shoes. Pug took a deep whiff of the smell of fresh laundry, so much better than the sanitary smell of the infirmary. He closed the door behind him and made the mistake of closing it all the way. He groaned as he ran down the steps and out into Beacon's grounds.

It felt good to get some motion in his legs after such a long period of rest. Within half an hour he already felt the burn in his thighs. Pug was severely out of shape from the operation. Within a few minutes after that he was panting and sweating, his red tank top matted with his sweat.

Pug sat down beside a blue haired boy with tortoise eyes, reading something on his Scroll. Unlike Pug's normal social demeanor, he ignored him completely and watched the waning sun. Noticing Pug, he twisted his head and faced him.

"Intense run?" He asked, his eyes returning to his Scroll as he texted someone.

"Yeah. Well, for me." Pug smacked his dry mouth, feeling parched.

He scoffed and laughed, "So, you got any plans for this weekend? Not much I assume, from the bandaged arm I mean. What happened, you get into a fight?"

"Yeah, ticked Cardin Winchester off and he handed my butt to the infirmary on platter." Pug lied easily. The boy guffawed and smacked his leg.

"You couldn't even beat Cardin? Man, the dude's a brute."

"Must've been out of the fight or something, one moment we were staring at each other, the next moment I was in the infirmary with a broken arm." Pug continued lying.

"I know that feeling."

"Yeah," Pug looked at his left arm and laughed weakly. "I might go to a club. Do some adult things, and maybe drink some adult drinks."

"Ooh, a rebel."

"Haha, maybe. So, what about you?"

"Got a meeting to attend."

"A meeting?" Pug looked at him, intrigued. What's a Beacon student doing at a meeting? Last Pug checked, Beacon didn't do Parent Professor Associations.

"Yeah." He replied, typing away on his Scroll.

"Elaborate?" Pug asked as the boy's Scroll vibrated.

"Ah- gotta go, see you around." The blue haired boy said, not hearing Pug's question. He got up and answered his Scroll, walking towards the Dorms. Pug could overhear him say something along the lines of "Babe, you still mad that I tried to please you?"

Pug furrowed his eyebrows, displeased that he didn't get an answer. He sat for a few moments, watching the sun disappear halfway into the horizon. Back in the infirmary, he discovered that he had been away for two hours. The analog clock hanging from the wall told him that it was seven. Nurse Inkwell wasn't happy with him when he came back sweaty and parched.

"Where have you been young man?" She sternly asked, handing him a water bottle.

He drank a little before answering, "Library."

Nurse Inkwell wasn't amused that Pug lied, "Uh-huh. Seems likely, considering your book is still beside the bed, you're thirsty, and drenched in sweat. Not to mention you're panting like a dog on a hot summer day."

Pug chuckled awkwardly. Nurse Inkwell pursed her lips. "Whatever, we're almost done. Lay back down and let me do some final touches. This'll be the last one."

Pug did what he was told and made himself comfortable on the bed. The nurse pulled out a pink colored syringe and pricked his skin again. He felt woozy and drifted off to sleep. He dreamed of a cookie eating contest with Ruby, then it turned horrid when she walked back into her dorm. It exploded and a piece of her red cloak floated into his hands.

When he woke, cold sweat ran down his temple, it was eleven. Eleven at night, not in the morning. Nurse Inkwell was gone, and so was all of his tape. His left hand still had some tape, but it wasn't of the surgical kind. It was smooth and white and resembled a finger-less glove the way it was wrapped around his fingers.

Pug sat up and saw a note on Blake's book. It was from Nurse Inkwell.

 _Pugon Jinn Vulken,_

 _That's it! You're all fixed now, and it only took me a week to do it. Don't get into whatever scenario you got yourself in to obtain those injuries again! I'll have Professor Goodwitch give you a stern talking to if you do._

 _I have updated your team status with what they should be at the moment. It's a shame a young man like you was torn from his team in one fell swoop. If I have anything to say to you; It's to not let revenge take control of your life. Focus on school Pugon, and those lovely girls who came and visited you when you were unconscious or sedated. ;)_

 _Please do not over exert that hand of yours for a couple more days, the Bone-Gro gel needs to harden before it can take a hit properly without destroying itself again. Headmaster Ozpin has provided another Scroll for you to access your dorm You're free to go now, have a good rest of the semester._

 _Nurse Inkwell._

 _P.S. Thank you for the cupcake!_

So that was it. Compared to a normal human, his recovery was extraordinarily fast. Probably because he was an extraordinary person. Fourteen days of being gone, to everyone but Pyrrha and those 'lovely girls'. He presumed one of them was Blake, why else would he have one of her novels?

Pug stood and grabbed Blake's book. He turned the factory white Scroll and and was greeted with the glow of a hologram. Everything was new, all of his contacts were gone, and so was his pictures. A semester of pictures were gone. He sighed.

He'd go to his dorm first and change clothes. Then, depending on if Team RWBY was still awake, he'd return Blake's book and greet them with a long and crushing hug. He'd end the night by doing the same to Team JNPR.

The door to his dorm was locked, a brief pass of his Scroll on the door handle unlocked it with a click. The lights were still on from earlier and so was the pile of ruined clothes from the failed op. He bit his tongue when he passed by Primrose's bed and scrounged their closet for his sleepwear. He showered quickly and changed into a dark purple tank top and black shorts. Sleeping in Team RWBY's dorm seemed tantalizing, especially with Zwei. Since hey! They were both dogs anyways, why not share the love- not in a sexual way though. Brotherly Love! Wait, that sounded wrong too.

Pug made sure he smelled approachable, donning the sweet smell of fresh laundry again. With confidence, he made his way to RWBY's dorm. Pug was just glad to be out of the horror which was his dorm. Nothing but bad memories in there.

Outside of RWBY's dorm, he waited for a minute, listening for any signs of liveliness from inside. Just as he was about to turn around and head back, he heard Zwei bark as Weiss cooed. Pug raised a fist and prepared to knock, but found that he couldn't.

Then silence.

Zwei started barking happily, sounding as if he was jumping up and down behind the door.

"What's up Zwei? Someone at the door?" Pug heard Yang jump from her bed, Zwei answered with more happy barks.

"C'mhere Zwei!" Ruby giddily called, Weiss cooed him forward.

"Who's up at this time?" Blake's voice called.

"Dunno, might be Jaune. Better not." said Weiss.

"Or it could be Sunn!" Yang excitedly raised her voice, "Just think about it Blake, he comes and sweeps you off your feet and says 'Blakie, tonight- we make love tonight' " Yang did a terrible impersonation of Sun. She laughed.

The door opened and Yang smirked, expecting to see Jaune's blue pajamas or a shirtless Sun. Instead, she saw a well built, slender, gray eyed man with black hair and gold streaks running through it. She was taken back, not expecting to see the person before her eyes.

Pug drew her into a crushing hug, making sure to squeeze all the air from her lungs as he tightened his vice like grip around her. Zwei barked happily on Ruby's lap, Weiss next to her petting him on the head. Blake laid on her bed, the residue of a blush on her cheeks.

"Ooh, I missed you Blondie!" Pug said, swaying a crushed Yang. He rested his chin on Yang's golden head, being a full head taller than her.

"Eh-heh, you're crushing me, " Yang said, out of breath.

Pug made the mistake of loosening his grip around her. In an instant, Pug was in the middle of the room. Yang crushed his lungs with the tightest hug he had ever experienced in his life.

Yang smirked, "Missed you too, Goldilocks!"

"Puuug!" Ruby shrieked, tightening the vice around Pug with her own hug.

"Yang's friend!" Weiss said, further tightening the vice.

"So nice to see you again Pug!" Blake exclaimed.

When Blake added her hug, Pug felt like he might shoot out from their grasp and make a hole in the ceiling as he soared to space. All he saw around him was a mass of hair and arms. Just when things couldn't get better, Jaune coolly called out from the doorway:

"I see you've started the welcoming party without me."

Ruby cried out somewhere in the mass of hair, " Jaune! Group hug! Now!"

Jaune jumped in surprise, "A-alright!"

"Pug!" Pyrrha called out from behind Jaune. Nora and Ren popped their heads out with a smile, Ren's being a confused smile.

Team RWBY and Team JNPR's combined hugs made him feel like he was paper thin. Either way, he was happy to be back at home with his friends.

Somewhere admist the bodies and mane of hair, Blake called out, "Guys? I think we crushed him."

* * *

 **A/N : A quick update from me, I've had this chapter written before I decided to revise the beginning, so all I needed to do was revise and edit :)**

 **Now that the beginning parts are done, from this point to the point where Neo steps into the story will focus on character development and character bonding. Which is pretty short at the moment; A couple of chapters away.**

 **So, how'd I do with the canon characters? Am I doing Yang right? Or how about Blake? Scratch that, how about team RWBY as a whole?**


	5. P5 Arcade

Yang brushed her fingers through Pug's raven hair, having awakened just seconds before. She kept her eyes closed and enjoyed the feeling of his body. She ran a finger along his chest, enjoying his sculpted arms and muscular body. His abs were soft, soft and... Fluffy?

She opened her eyes and stared into the eyes of her corgi pillow. Did Pug really come back yesterday? Or was she so tired from staying awake that she was seeing things? The blonde fighter lay in bed for a moment, before turning so she faced the bunk bed above her.

Blake had slept in her bed yesterday. So Pug did happen. And she had slept with a boy for the first time in her life. Yang blushed at the thought of that. They didn't do anything her father Taiyang wouldn't approve of; They just slept, tired and wanting to be in each others company. She blushed again, her cheeks were so red that even Weiss commented on it.

"Yang? Oh hey- Yang's awake." Weiss said, sitting at the edge of her bed.

Ruby twisted around from where she stood. She was looking out of the window at the overcast skies. The sun hid behind the clouds, threatening to rain, but that didn't stop students from roaming the grounds of Beacon leisurely.

Blake dipped her cat ears down from above, her wavy black hair hanging down. Half of her face was visible from where Yang lay, her amber eyes looking at Yang in the most feline way possible. Yang felt tempted to hold a ball of yarn out to see what Blake's reaction would be.

Weiss looked at the clouds moving lazily along in the sky. She was softy stroking a sleeping Zwei laying on her lap. He seemed to enjoy every minute of it as he snoozed. The heiress almost broke into her cooing face as Zwei yipped pleasantly.

"Weiss, you sure look into Zwei- Don't Schneeze, Blake won't be feline alright on the floor!"

Her team groaned at her puns. Yang huffed in indignation, "Some people just don't appreciate a double pun in a sentence... Weiss so serious today?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Not serious, just sort of contemplating on what to do this afternoon."

"What _are_ we doing today?" Yang asked, putting a hand on her stomach and another on her forehead.

"Got any plans, team leader?" Weiss asked Ruby.

"Mope." Her sister popped.

"Blake?" Weiss turned to the faunus, who was resting her head on Yang's pillow, reading a book on her stomach.

"Library, or- "

"Or Sun! You two would make a great match!" Yang interrupted exuberantly.

Blake chuckled awkwardly, "I was going to say Pug."

"Whaa- Pug's mine!"

"He could be mine too; Reading buddies." Blake smiled, teasing her partner.

"Pfft, Blake's definitely not feline alright."

"On another note, I did hear Team JNPR walk down the hallway just a few minutes ago." Blake said.

"Probably off to lunch, seeing as it's eleven now." Weiss answered the question in Yang's mind.

The blonde's stomach made an audible grumble at the mention of food. Then Ruby's stomach grumbled, followed by Weiss's. Yang laughed at Blake's purring stomach. She had created a domino effect just from her empty stomach. Swinging her legs over the bed, Yang yawned and jumped to her feet.

"Well? Off to lunch!" Yang exclaimed, rummaging through the closet she shared with her partner. She burst into the bathroom and shouted, "Dibs on first shower!"

The mess hall was moderately packed with students as Team RWBY stepped in. They grabbed their trays and spotted Team JNPR and Pug sitting together next to the tall windows. A small glimpse of sunlight shined through before a cloud hastily hid it away.

Team RWBY made themselves comfortable around them. Yang chose to interrupt the bro love between Jaune and Pug as she separated the two and sat with a slap of her tray. Ruby sat beside Jaune, Weiss sat beside Pyrrha, and Blake sat between Pyrrha and Ren.

Before eating, Yang wrapped an arm around Pug and squeezed him. They were all wearing their combat ready- but stylish uniforms. Team RWBY decided to don the same clothes that they had worn during their one mission into Vale.

Pug wore his caramel leather jacket zipped up halfway, exposing a portion of his dark yellow shirt. His sleeves were rolled up, his left hand still covered in the white tape. On the bright side, it looked like a fingerless glove. His hair was clean and bangs were pulled to one side, resemblant to Ruby's hairstyle, but shorter. Yang found it kind of cute on him, it reminded her of home. She quickly suppressed a blush as she began eating.

Jaune was in his usual, except without the whole white armored strapped around him. He sat awkwardly as Yang ate beside him, oblivious to their conversation before. Jaune awkwardly made eye contact with Pug, who shrugged and made a face.

Pyrrha was in something new; Much like her bronze armor, she wore a smooth and silky bronze colored zip-up vest with a lighter brown short sleeved shirt under it. Her hair was loose and hung freely, framing her face beautifully.

Ren's uniform remained the same more or less. He wore a green button up with a shirt under it, his pants were khaki and he adorned black shoes. Nora decided to go for a more casual look, sporting a black Grimm Rising shirt and pink shorts. They chatted with Pyrrha and Blake, Nora telling another wild story. Surprisingly, it seemed to be the truth as Ren sat silently listening to his best friend.

"So, where are you guys headed?" Ruby asked as she sipped her milk carton.

"Just hanging around Vale, might do some shopping." Pyrrha answered with a flick of her red hair.

"Is that a milk carton?" Pug asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"Y-yes!" Ruby pointed a finger at him, her face growing red."You're just jealous that you don't have strong bones and healthy teeth!"

Weiss made a sort of noise in between a squeak and a gasp of surprise. "Pyrrha! Me and you, we should go shopping together! My wardrobe is in real need for some rain resistant clothes, and with spring just around the corner, what's a better time than today?"

"I would love to go shopping with you Weiss. " Pyrrha smiled.

"What about you Pug, got any plans?" Yang asked, leaning into him. He sipped his drink and looked nonchalantly at Jaune. Jaune shrugged this time.

"Yeah, me and Jaune are going to hit up the arcade and play some games."

Yang wrapped her hand around him, teasing him, "How about we hit the gym together- no offense Jauney. " She winked at Jaune, who immediately looked away and blushed.

"Pffft." Pug retorted, "Nah, me and Jaune planned this for awhile now. Besides, can't do much with a healing left hand."

"That's why you drink milk!" Ruby huffed beside Jaune.

"Neeerds, guess it's you and me sis." Yang leaned back and lightly punched Ruby's shoulder. "Blake?"

The faunus looked up form her book, eating some oatmeal. "Library."

"Ren? Nora?" Yang asked, feeling hopeless that no one was doing anything particularly fun.

"Movies." They replied in unison, Nora pointed at her Grimm Rising shirt.

* * *

Call of Atlas : Grimm Warfare 2 was an intense game. So intense, that Pug could literally explain the game with a single explosion noise. It was based off the Atlas Infantry Simulator, bootlegged as CoA to a small select amount of people. It eventually found itself in the mass market, for reasons Pug deduced as boosting infantry employment.

Jaune and Pug usually played this game to blow off steam from all those lessons and sparring matches. It was nice, and they didn't expect the game to become a thing to them. Every other week they came here and bulldozed through some missions in the game. Just the two of them, no students, no professors, and most definitely no girls. They were on mission 403; the hardest mission in the game. It was a five man coop mission, but after many trials and tribulations they found a way to do it with the two of them.

They never made it to the end though. Maybe today would be the lucky day.

The mission flowed right down Pug's alley. He picked the role of an Atlesian sniper, armed with an MR-411 – a semi automatic sonic rifle. He perched himself on a nearby building overlooking the mission objective; a roof where a bullhead was going to land.

Said bullhead hovered down at the edge of the objective building. Atlesian colors sported the wings as it vertically landed. The passenger doors opened with a hiss.

"Alright, Pug I'm ready." Jaune's voice called from Pug's helmet.

"I'm ready when you are." He replied, aiming down the sights.

An Atlas senator walked out casually from the bullhead, followed by Jaune with his white highlighted armor and his AI teammate with red highlighted armor. They held Atlesian AR-34's; gray mechanized bullpup rifles.

From the other end of the roof a red metal door opened. An agent from Mistral and some Black Forces walked though. The agent held a black briefcase in his hands, appearing matte in the overcast sky. Jaune and his AI companion seemed at ease, until the agent took two more steps. The blonde in white Atlesian armor raised his gun and fired rounds into the agent, as planned.

The agent disappeared in an explosion of pixels.

On the top right corner of Pug's vision, on his heads up display, popped a red mission failed notification. A new objective appeared, as Jaune and his companion took cover behind concrete and vents. They open fired at the Black Forces, dispatching the agent's guards. More came from downstairs, armed with rifles and shotguns.

 _New Objective : Survive the Ambush!_

Pug lined up his sights on a big brute in black steel armor. A large mini-gun whirred and spat bullets as he lumbered forward. Bullets bounced off his plates like balls bouncing on the floor. Jaune and his companion hid behind a different set of vents and shafts, the previous one riddled with holes.

Pug inhaled and held his breath, keeping the crosshair steady on the brute's head. He exhaled and pulled the trigger, the sound of the rifle crisp and echoing, the wind hissing on his face.

The brute's head snapped back and he fell, a smoking hole through the helmet. The brute exploded in a mass of pixels before disappearing.

"Jaune! Forward, left and right!" Pug ordered.

Jaune popped out of cover and held his bullpup out, he fired precisely and nailed the two Black Forces in the head. Jaune cautiously moved forward, keeping his barrel pointed at the roof access door. Pug remarked to himself at how cool headed Jaune was becoming. In the beginning he'd rush forward with a battle cry, expecting to catch the enemy off guard. Now, Jaune was well on his way to becoming a tactical fighter; listening carefully and surveying the situation.

He'd be a perfect fighter for the Vytal festival if only he applied that to real life.

 _Oh well,_ Pug thought. _We've still got four months to whip him into shape. My team has some training to do as well, two weeks without- They're dead. I forgot._ Pug swallowed.

The downfall of a boot caused him to twist around. He was greeted with a gleaming blade at his neck. From Pug's prone position, he had two options. He could fight and die, or he could jump and die. Or. He could fight and win.

Pug grabbed the assassin's arm and activated his Strength augment, with a powerful twist he heard the bones in the assassin break. The assassin reeled and tried to throw Pug off the side. The yellow Atlesian held on strong and planted a fist on the assassin's chin. Pug watched as he exploded into pixels.

Jaune was breezing through the floor below the roof. He watched the blonde teenager give strategic orders to his companion. The AI positioned itself at Jaune's request at choke and ambush points. He was doing well, that Pug was sure of.

Pug scaled down four floors to match Jaune's elevation. He raised his semi auto to his eye and pulled the trigger. The glass in front of him shattered and from miles away a brute collapsed and exploded into pixels. He continued scaling down, occasionally stopping to take a shot at a heavy Black Forces soldier.

From floor seven, Pug broke the glass adjacent to Jaune's building. He set up a zip-line and fired the cable at Jaune's fifth floor. Pug hooked himself onto the cable and rode down to Jaune's building, the wind whipping against his exposed mouth.

"Welcome back!" Jaune said as he made it to Pug.

"Thanks, so what's the plan now, Arc?" Pug swapped his sniper rifle for a shotgun.

"Follow the objective," Jaune pointed indirectly at the objective.

Pug looked at the top right hand corner of his vision. He was greeted with a green 'Objective Complete' sign and a small fanfare from the Atlas anthem. The new objective popped up and read:

 _New Objective : Bring Senator White to the LZ._

Senator White panted as he caught up to Jaune. White was a portly man, who looked to be severely out of shape for this type of engagement. He had white hair and a wrinkled face, signs of his age.

Jaune continued, "We continue from the streets."

Pug nodded and pulled a small circular device from the pouches mounted on his belt. He pressed the red button on it and threw it on the floor. A 3D hologram of Sector 07 appeared ; an Abandoned Location marked on the southern tips of Mantle. A small white flag contrasted the orange of the hologram's city. The flag marked their objective.

Now here was the tough part of the mission, the part where Jaune and him would get screwed over many times. Red triangles appeared close to their position, lots and lots of red triangles. Those were the Black Forces. They were retaliating after Jaune had killed their agent. Pug plotted a course in his mind and deactivated the device.

They made their way down to the ground floor. In the lobby, an Atlesian Highly Mobile Transport Vehicle was crashed through the wall. The HMTV was just what they needed, and in the exact place where they could use it effectively.

"Pug, wheel. White, passenger. Red, back seat. " Jaune ordered as he hopped on the back and opened the roof flap.

Pug hopped into the drivers seat and started the engine up. White sat beside him, shaking and terrified. Red jumped beside Jaune without a word. Remembering the course in his head, Pug reversed the car out of the lobby and slammed his foot down on the pedal. Driving a car felt natural in the game, but Pug knew if this was real, he'd be eating a metal street lamp by now.

"Remember the plan?" Jaune asked, a slight dose of a confident Atlesian war hero in his voice.

"Course, don't ever leave home without it." Pug joked as he veered to the right to avoid a wreckage. The Black Forces were on their tails, bullets dinking their hull.

Pug expertly drove around the block, drifting left and right and keeping his foot down on the pedal. Jaune and Red popped rounds from the back, shooting the drivers from their vehicles. The senator whimpered and shrieked when Pug pulled off a dangerous L turn, but he was just a program, he was designed to do that.

He was also designed to die. And die he did.

A sniper in the distance cracked as the windshield spider webbed. Blood splattered the window as the senator slumped forward. Dead. Pug furiously weaved into the street to the right to avoid the second shot, which clinked off the HMTV's hull.

Jaune turned in his seat and saw both the notification that White had died, and the actual dead Senator. His face remained calm and collected- well, his mouth showed no signs of emotion. Their objective remained the same, except without Senator White. They were to get their Atlesian butts to the LZ and extract before night came. Night was when the Grimm came from the sewers; Dangerous bunch they were.

The rear-view mirror to Pug's left shattered. He flinched just in time to feel the impact of a vehicle slamming into their own. Pug fought with the wheel to keep themselves from crashing into the buildings. Jaune and Red held onto the back for dear life, as Pug attacked the vehicle next to him.

He lost the battle. The jeep slammed into a wall with a mixture of dust and debris. They coughed and waved the dust away from their helmets. Once a storage room with a single light that illuminated the many boxes piled upon the shelves, now became a parking spot for a wrecked jeep.

The trio jumped out of the jeep and wasted not a single moment; They burst through the door and ran along the empty corridor of an unnamed business building. Floors filled with cubicles passed as they scaled the steps. Down below they could hear the banter of the Black Forces as they tried to pinpoint their location.

Their stamina depleted on the eighth floor. They took a breather, Red watching the stairs below them. Jaune rested his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

"You okay Pug?" He asked, concern on the tip of his tongue.

"Never better... So what's the plan now Jaune? We screwed up our 'legendary' seven step plan to win this mission."

"Keep following the objective, my Atlesian partner." Jaune smiled and patted Pug's armored back.

"We could just quit." Pug offered.

"No way! We came this far, no use in quitting now. Besides, we can do this!"

"Pssh, I bet that we'll die within the next five minutes."

"Fine, I bet that if we win; You'll buy us- all eight of us- a full meal somewhere!" Jaune folded his arms and raised his chin high.

"Fine, I bet that if we lose; You're kissing Weiss on the lips." Pug smirked.

"Deal. Wait- WHAT!?" Jaune jumped back and flailed his arms, realizing that he should have thought it through first.

"Too late now, you already said deal." Pug chuckled and lifted his shotgun to his cheek.

"Gah! Fine. Just you wait, we're going to win. Ready up, I'm taking point." Jaune pushed through the door, followed by Pug, and then Red.

They made their way across the floor to another stairwell. Continuing the climb to the roof was starting to make their legs ache. The roof would be a suitable place to use their jump augments to quickly traverse the town.

As they pushed out of the stairwell on floor eleven, the elevator beside them dinged open. Four Black Forces soldiers stood nonchalantly in the elevator, talking to each other about the weather. The Atlesians stared at the Black Forces. The Black Forces started at the Atlesians. An awkward silence enveloped the area around them as the opposing teams stared at each other. The elevator dinged shut and continued it's ascent.

The trio let out a sigh of relief and stood there for a moment. A single thought ran through their heads: Did they just survive that? Jaune shook his head and laughed quietly. Together, they made their way across the floor and continued scaling the stairs.

At the top floor, they had to progress through the corridors and offices to find the roof access shaft. It wasn't a surprise to them when they encountered Black Forces positioned around the roof access. They were the same ones they had met in the elevator.

"Pug, left pillar. Red, right pillar. I've got center." Jaune calmly ordered.

The trio got into positions and unloaded their bullets onto the Black Forces. Bullet holes marked the walls and floor. Windows shattered and let in the cool dusk air. The trio moved around, using empty corridors and dark rooms to their advantage. To their dismay, a brute lit up the entryway to the roof access. The trio took a defensive position and tried to combat the brute.

Pug hid behind an overturned office desk, Jaune across the room behind a wall, and Red behind some pillars in the middle of the room. Jaune motioned to Pug and whispered hastily into his chin strap radio.

"Pug, use your shield augment! Push forward and distract the brute!"

"Roger." Pug opened a hologram mounted on his left arm. He navigated the minimal operating system and selected shield. An orange holographic shield materialized on his arm, a hexagonal pattern running along it's smooth surface. Pug pushed forward and ducked under his shield, watching the bullet impacts undulate on the surface of the shield.

Jaune and Red leaned out from their cover and aimed at the brute. Their guns rattled before the brute fell and exploded into pixels. They took out the brute's lackeys as Pug made his way closer and closer towards the roof access.

With a crack, Pug's shield broke and he saw – in slow motion- a bullet whizzing right towards his cheek. It almost seemed as if the bullet was suspended in midair.

It took a moment to realize that it was suspended in mid air, a small box in the middle of his vision read:

 _Player Three Joining..._

Jaune and Pug exclaimed in shock as the familiar childish voice rang out in their ears.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hellooo again, something different from the usual 'My teammates are dead, I seek revenge' stuff. A good ol' tense game with Jaune, can't go wrong with that, right? I'd post the next chapter, but honestly the length is getting pretty out of hand. Trimming only results in scenes that feel rushed, and chopping it only makes the Arcade drone on longer.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading. :D**


	6. P6 Arcade PII

"Heya Jaune!"

"What was that?" Jaune whipped around, finding that he couldn't move.

"Nooo!" Pug dramatically howled, frozen in front of a bullet. That wasn't the reason why he was yelling.

"W-What's going on?" The childish voice returned.

Jaune howled too, as the loading screen in front of him continued on again. He was stuck awkwardly on his right foot, in a mid-walk.

"Ruby!" Jaune said loudly.

Ruby sheepishly responded, "What?"

"I thought you were with Yang!"

"Well, Yang's off in a club or bar or whatever flirting with boys. I didn't want to flirt, so I found you guys. Soo... What is this game?"

Pug chose that moment to burst out laughing. He laughed because with Ruby's sniping skills, he might actually lose the bet between him and Jaune. Jaune sighed and explained to Ruby what they were doing. He led her through the class selection screen and she settled on a sniper class.

When time continued again, Pug ducked and felt the bullet whistle past his ears. Ruby took the place of the AI -who was named Red of all things- and appeared beside Jaune. She spawned with the red highlighted armor of the AI and a large bolt action sonic sniper rifle. The tips of her bangs could be seen from her helmet.

Ruby waved at Pug, who proceeded to motion for her to take cover. The enemies respawned from the introduction of the third player. Jaune, from behind his wall, motioned at Pug. He wanted Pug to do the shield augment again, but this time push backwards towards his team. Pug deployed the holographic shield and walked back, attracting the attention of the enemies pouring out of the corridors.

"Ruby! Attack the ones on the left!" Jaune ordered.

"Got it." Ruby peeked out of her pillar and fired her sniper rifle.

Pug ducked behind an overturned desk and put away his shield. He pulled out his shotgun and laid slugs at the enemies. Ruby was accurately taking heads with the sonic rifle, even in this enclosed area. Jaune's rifle burst fired and took down two soldiers trying to peek.

"It's clear." Jaune called out.

"Nice work." Pug high-fived Jaune.

They opened the roof access door and scaled the stairs. Jaune took point with Ruby behind him. Pug watched their flank with his shotgun.

It was dark outside, the broken moon shining from the horizon. In the streets below, a thick red haze settled. The sounds of Grimm conversing could be heard echoing through the streets. Jaune pulled out the holographic map and set it down in front of them.

The map of Sector 07 appeared, three dimensional and all knowing. Ruby awed at it and tried to poke the orange buildings, her finger phasing through the hologram. It showed three green triangles on top of a tall building. The white flag was close by, about four buildings away from their position. Multiple red triangles were below them, inside of the building. A red Viper's Tail materialized into the map, making a beeline towards them.

The sound of an engine could be heard from behind. Jaune deactivated the map and returned it to his pouch.

"We gotta run!" Jaune shouted, cycling through the Augments on his arm.

Pug did the same, flipping through the many Augments that an Atlesian soldier would have. Ruby stood there, looking at the hologram at his arm. She tried to activate her own hologram. Ruby didn't know how, so she asked and received a look from Pug.

"I don't know how to Augment thingie or whatever! Ptwaaa!" Ruby made noises and flailed her arms around.

"Ruby," Pug gave Ruby another look. "What are you doing?"

"Semblance." She replied, rocking on her heels.

"It's a game, Ruby Rose."

"Oh."

Just then, the Viper's Tail glided into view. The mini-gun mounted on its wings spinning and spitting out bullets. It glided slowly, bullets aimed at the three. Missiles mounted on the underside of the aerial ship hissed and exploded on the side of the building.

They reeled and almost lost their balance. Another missile crashed into the building.

"Go! We gotta go now!" Jaune shouted, jumping across to the other building with the help of his Augment.

"Go? I can't use my Augment-whatchamacallit! I don't know how to!" Ruby shouted, a third missile flying past them.

"I got it!" Pug shouted.

"What? -Wait! Let me go! Just tell me- Let me go!" Ruby protested as Pug draped her over his shoulder like a towel.

Pug made his way to the edge and jumped, propelled forward by a sonic blast from his boots. The wall of the next building came to greet him, they were too low to make it onto the roof. Pug swapped Augments and activated the jet pack behind his knee and glided upwards. He landed with elegance and let Ruby stand.

Across the roof Jaune held open a red metal door and beckoned the two to hurry up. They wasted no time heading towards him. The Viper's Tail glided into view again, missiles spiraling towards Ruby and Pug.

One missile struck the roof, an explosion of ice Dust coating a section of the roof in jagged frozen spikes. Another missile struck the roof, an explosion of fire pluming in all directions. Ruby covered her eyes and ran forward to Jaune. Pug followed behind her.

The roof cracked and Pug lost his footing. He slid along the length of the roof, now at an incline. Dust and bullet holes spiked up from around him as the mini-gun tried to finish him off. Pug's legs were looming closer to the edge. He brought the augment hologram up and cycled through the many- _Why'd they have so many?_ \- augments. Pug slid right off the roof.

Jaune shut the door behind Ruby and they scaled down the stairs. He glanced behind her to see that a certain someone was missing.

"Ruby, where's Pug?" Jaune asked. From behind the windows, said guy screamed as he fell. Jaune held a finger up and nodded. "Never mind. That answers my question."

"Whoops... Eheheh, sorry." Ruby said.

"It's fine Ruby. He'll be okay... Maybe." Jaune dismissed with a wave of his hand.

* * *

Yang Xiao Long walked into the Vale Library, a huge and ancient place, sprawling with books on almost everything. This place was totally not for Yang. The library was so quiet, that she was sure a pin could be heard from the police station down the street.

Yang waved off the uncomfortable feeling of her boots tapping on the marble floor. The only sound that seemed to echo along the columned walls. She'd crack skulls and break bones any day compared to this. That didn't mean that she didn't respect it, it was just something that Yang couldn't bring herself to do.

The blonde walked into a large rectangular room with green carpeting. Tall oak bookshelves ran along the walls and rowed off the entire room. They resembled dominoes that could topple each other if so much as one fell. In the center of the room, fluffy chairs and desks laid about, giving the readers a place to sit and read.

She looked around until she spotted her raven haired partner sitting on a fluffy cat chair, a book in her hands. The blonde fighter slid next to Blake, who's amber eyes intensely stared at the literature in her hands. Upon noticing Yang, Blake shifted herself to avoid her partner's peering eyes. She positioned her hands to obscure the cover of the book.

Yang stared at Blake from behind the book, until she met her eyes with a raised eyebrow. Yang smirked and winked her violet eyes.

"What?" Blake asked, keeping a finger in the book as she closed it.

Yang pointed at the book, "Whatcha reading?"

"I thought you were with Ruby."

"I was, but then she ditched me when I started flirting with some boys." Yang snorted and added, "You know how boys are."

Blake nodded, somewhat in agreement.

"So, whatcha reading?" Yang repeated.

"Just a book."

"Weelll, books have names. Unless they're ancient books." Yang smiled, trying to get Blake to budge.

"This one doesn't." Blake replied, reading it again.

"Fine, guess I'll go then." Yang looked away, trying to use reverse psychology.

"Ok." Her partner replied indifferently. She moved her hands on the cover just enough so that Yang could yank it from her hands.

The blonde fighter flipped the book over and read the cover.

"Seven Ways To Get a Crush To Work?" Yang snorted, then giggled. "Guess you really have your heart set out on Sun... Or is it my friend Pug?"

The blonde raised a provocative eyebrow.

"Actually, I was going to get that book for you." Blake smirked, having caught Yang in a trap.

"What?"

Blake laughed at Yang's cherry red face and surprised expression.

* * *

The streets of Sector 07 were hazy red, making it impossible to see anything farther than a stone's throw. Pug coughed and pushed himself up. His virtual bones ached and his screen was cracked. Upon closer inspection of his armor, it was dented in multiple areas, a long crack ran along the side of his helmet.

The lone Atlesian looked around for his shotgun, finding nothing but a palpable red haze. He sighed and activated his comms with a tap of the hologram mounted on his left arm. He was greeted with static that gave him a chill down his spine. Pug spun around, expecting to hear a ticking noise and the screams of his fallen teammates.

Nothing. Good.

He turned the comm off and enjoyed the silence of the street. A wandering Grimm on the street grunted and lumbered away. Pug took steady and meticulous steps down the street, following the translucent white wall that was the building he fell from.

Crumbled pieces of the roof lay scattered around, crushing empty cars and Grimm alike. Pug stepped over a stark white horn that protruded from under an oblong shaped debris. Up ahead in the dark sky, the Viper's Tail hovered away. Good thing Atlesian soldiers were suited to have automatically adjusting vision, it must be very dark without his helmet.

In front of him a large black shape grunted and stomped. Pug ducked behind a car and slid himself under it. He lay there and listened to the Grimm lumber over to where he just was, grunting and sniffing. A black paw fell down in front of the crack, blocking the light and making Pug flinch. The black shape grunted and continued forward, walking over the cars and debris like a rug.

Pug crawled out from under the car and continued along the wall until he came upon glass double doors. He pushed them open and his vision adjusted to the dim light standing behind the receptionist's desk.

Above him the faint rattle of gunshots could be heard. Jaune and Ruby were having a fun time above. Pug opened the door to the stairwell and made his way upwards, or until the stairs were crumpled. Four floors above the lobby he pushed open a door silently and listened to the now louder gun rattles on the floor above.

A person whipped around in front of him, armed with a gun. Pug dispatched him before he could make any noise with a snap. Hiding the body in the stairwell, Pug took his gun. An Automatic Bolt Carbine. ABC-11's were a rarity, chosen by people who preferred the silence without suppressors and the firepower of a crossbow.

Pug made his way along the floor, taking out guards methodically. A snap here, a bolt there, maybe a stab over here. Pug ducked under a table as a guard passed by him, he popped up and listened to the sound of ABC-11's muffled pop as the guard fell. Pug continued and made his way towards the middle of the room.

Across the room a door burst open and he could hear Jaune and Ruby's battle cry.

"Lancaster!" Ruby shouted, a machine gun rattling in her hands. Jaune wielded two assault rifles and laid waste to a group of talking guards. Pug ducked behind a wall as those two obliterated everything moving and non-moving in the room.

When things were silent, Pug peeked his head out of the wall. Immediately, he retracted his head as a puff of dust spurted out of where he just was. The machine gun and rifle fire returned, along with their battle cries as they destroyed absolutely everything in the floor again. Pug watched as one of the Black Forces ran forward blindly with a shotgun, and fell with a muffled pop.

Things went silent again. Jaune breathed a sigh of relief.

"Boy, this game is fun!" Ruby giggled.

Pug walked casually from behind his cover, earning a stare with the end of Jaune and Ruby's gun. When they saw the yellow highlights from the armor they calmed down and lowered their shoulders.

"Having fun without me?" Pug pouted.

Jaune nudged Ruby and grinned, "Told you he'd be back."

"Puuuug!" Ruby ran forward and hugged him. It would have been welcome had she not been placed inside of an adult male donned in Atlesian armor. It just felt weird.

"So, where are we headed leader?"

Ruby looked at the two boys, "Wait, which one?"

"Jaune's acting leader for this game." Pug answered, waiting for Jaune to decide.

"Ooh! Can I be leader?" Ruby asked, raising her hand like a kindergartner.

"Well," Jaune spoke, "We could travel to the next building by the sewers."

"I think there could be a sewer hatch in the street. We could head there. Any intel on the sewers?"

"Should be empty."

Ruby bounced on her feet like jackhammer, "Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I?"

Pug stopped her bouncing by placing a hand on her shoulder. He paused and let the suspense ride high in the air, before answering in a simple "Nope."

The three of them headed down to the street. Lucky for them there was a sewer hatch just in front of the glass doors, slightly obscured by a flat and thick piece of the roofing. Jaune motioned for Pug to help him, while Ruby held their flanks. The debris was heavy, but after some strained arm movements the sewer hatch was exposed and open.

Jaune climbed down first and was followed by Ruby. Pug closed the hatch behind him and hung on the ladder, waiting for his vision to light up the cement tube. He climbed down and accepted Ruby's high five, who smiled and followed after Jaune.

Their footsteps sloshed on the wet floor. Since Sector 07 was abandoned, the sewers remained pretty clean. Creatures of Grimm had picked off all of the questionable things that remained after civilization had left the area. The silence between the three was broken when Ruby hiccupped.

"Oops. Hic- Sorry."

"Hold your breath, Ruby." Pug whispered.

Ruby did as she was told and held her breath as she was walking. She held it for so long that she felt faint and almost fell over had it not been for Jaune and Pug. She coughed and exhaled. They waited a moment, to see if Ruby hiccupped again. She didn't and they patted her on the back.

"Thanks... Erm..." Ruby searched for words lost in her mouth.

"Erm? What?" Jaune asked, arching his back and looking further into the sewers.

"Hmm... We need to have a team discussion."

"A team dis- What?" Pug asked.

"About your shipping name." Ruby chirped, gaining a look from Pug.

"Our..." Jaune trailed off.

"Our shipping... name... Ruby, you know I don't see Jaune like that." Pug stated the obvious.

"Of course! That's why you and Yang spend a long time together at the gym right? And yesterday night together?"

"The-Wha... Ruby!" If Pug could blush, he would be cherry red at what Ruby had implied. "It's strictly training and nothing else! And- And, that was merely as friends!"

"Suuureee. How about... White Puppy!"

It was Jaune's turn to give Ruby a look, "White Puppy?"

"What? White Puppy is an adorable name!"

"But it'd be albino..." Pug muttered in confusion.

"White Puppy."

"It'd be albino." He repeated.

"Fine, White Puggie- or, no! Pug of Arc!" Ruby snickered.

Jaune face palmed and continued forward. Ruby bouncing behind him. Pug followed at the back, watching their flank.

"Thanks Pug of Arc! Or White Puppy? Which is better?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby. No." Pug cut her off, his face still red from what Ruby had said.

A rusty ladder stood in the middle of the tube. Jaune tested the sturdiness of it before climbing up. They followed him and climbed onto the hazy red streets again. A big building stood to their left, almost hidden behind the haze. Tall columns dotted the outside building, with wide steps leading up to two great doors.

Jaune's earpiece beeped and an authoritative voice spoke to him.

"Hawk! We're reading you at the LZ. Standby for airship evacuation. Hold out for a couple."

"Roger." Jaune spoke.

The trio made their way into the building. Inside, rotten wood floors greeted them with peeling walls. There was nothing inside except for a large chamber, a glassed domed roof faintly shining moonlight onto the wood.

"Alright team. Last stand, let's hold out here. Pug, find something and barricade those doors. Ruby, windows."

"Okiedokey." Ruby smiled and bumbled off.

Pug did his end and barricaded the doors, for the main doors he moved thick bookshelves against the doorframes. The excess rooms that led away from the chambers he flipped tables over and blocked them, holding them in place with chairs. Ruby pushed the small bookshelves in front of the windows, obscuring the red sight of the streets.

They congregated back in the chamber, surprised to see someone standing in the middle of the room. Dressed in black mechanized armor, with red lights emanating from where eyes should be, the black armored person turned and spoke in a low robotic voice.

"Intruder. Identify Yourself."

The trio stayed silent, unfamiliar with who this person was. Even Jaune and Pug were confused as to who this was, they never encountered him before. Pug checked the bolts in his gun before raising it and popping the robot.

In a blink of an eye, the robot was gone. It appeared in a mid-twist in the air, two pistols in its hands. It unloaded bullets with deadly precision, striking the three of them and taking a majority of their health away. Ruby's machine gun rattled in her hands and Jaune's dual assault rifles kicked wildly.

They missed all of their shots.

Ruby dodged a burst from the robot's pistol, now dancing around the center of the chamber. It fired left and right, arms moving at incredible speeds. This was why the mission was impossible, just a lame boss that was unbeatable.

"Lancaster!" Ruby shouted.

Jaune took the robots attention by stepping close and holding the trigger down on both his rifles. The robot dodged and instead of striking Jaune with a sword that extended from its forearm, Ruby ripped dents into the robot with her machine gun.

"White Puppy!"

Jaune jumped back and let Pug take the robot's attention. The robot pulled two shotguns out from nowhere and slammed slug after slug into Pug. A quick activation of his shield and Pug managed to absorb the damage that would have killed him. Jaune came up behind the robot and unloaded the remaining bullets in his mag.

In a flash of light the robot moved from the center to an open area of the chamber. The robot sparked from the kinks in his arms and it sported many dents. Its head shuddered and the red glow of his eyes dimmed.

Ruby reloaded her machine gun and Jaune did the same with his rifles.

"Yellow Rose!"

"Yel-"

"Yellow Rose!" Ruby interrupted Pug, her machine gun rattling again.

Pug dashed forward and his weapon popped repeatedly. The robot reeled, metal bolts protruding from his back. With sudden strength, it whipped around and slammed its cold arms into Pug. He was sent flying into the bookshelves, his health dangerously low.

"White Puppy!" Ruby ordered.

Jaune came close to to the Robot and drew his attention. The robot ignored Jaune's bullets and pulled a knife into existence. A simple flick of the blade and it embedded itself into Pug with an explosion of pixels.

Pug felt the same odd disconnecting feeling one would get if he stepped into a bright room from a pitch dark one. He blinked and the luminescent multicolored glows from the dark arcade filled his vision. He stared through the helmet's tinted glass, and saw the screen depict a red Atlesian soldier fighting with a white Atlesian solider against a super assassin.

He took the helmet off and set it back on its stand. Popping his back, he saw Ruby Rose sitting next to him. Her eyes were closed and she wore the virtual reality helmet. On the other side of him, Jaune sat exactly like Ruby was.

Pug stood up and stretched, getting some motion into his idle muscles. He pulled out his Scroll and checked the time. It read 4:00PM, they arrived at the arcade at approximately 12:00. Four hours of nothing but sitting. Pug cracked his knuckles and watched the screen.

"Nooooooo! Lancaster!" Ruby shouted, filling the robot with bullets.

Jaune drew the robot's attention and did his best to dodge the robot's swords. Ruby focused on striking the robot with the machine gun. Jaune dodged and popped rounds into the robot. It continued like this for a while. Pug went to the bathroom, convinced that nothing would happen.

When Pug came back, Jaune and Ruby were looking for him. They stretched and got some life into their muscles. The arcade was a mix of neon colors that were further emphasized by the blinking lights of the many screens.

"So, did you guys lose?" Pug smirked.

"Opposite. We won!" Jaune high fived Ruby.

"What!?"

"Yeah, you should've seen it! The J from JNPR and the R from RWBY; makes a great tag team."

"Don't get too excited Jaune," Ruby inched away from the blonde.

Pug's shoulder slumped and he let out a small 'ugh'.

"So, as we agreed, you gotta buy all of us food." Jaune smiled.

"Fine... Call them up."

"White Puppy!" Ruby yipped as she followed the two boys out of the arcade.

* * *

Burger Palace was empty save for the eight Beacon students eating next to the window. The sky was a stormy gray, rain pattering down on the streets. Lighting arced in the distance, bouncing from one cloud to another.

Team RWBY sat on one table, Blake chuckled behind her book at a very red faced Yang who avoided Pug's friendly eye contact. Weiss had a ton of bags, stacked neatly on top of one another beside her. Ruby sat beside the window eating fries while she conversed with her team.

Team JNPR sat at the next table, including Pug who sat with Jaune and Pyrrha. It made for a really cramped space. Nora was going on about how horrific the movie Grimm Rising was, Ren sat beside her and nodded with a wide grin on his face. Pyrrha had bags too, considerably less than what Wiess had. They were piled neatly beside Pug, all full of clothing for the oncoming spring rain. The red head had took the window seat and shared a box of fries with Jaune, who stared at Nora intensely as he vividly imagined what the movie was like.

Ruby stretched her arms out, excitedly telling her sister about her adventure with Jaune and Pug.

"And the airship chased us as me and Pug ran along the roof! Explosions were everywhere! Oh- but Pug didn't make it-"

"What's the point of this _said_ game?" Weiss coldly cut in, her eyebrow twitching in irritation of Ruby's sweeping arm motions. The crimson haired girl was not considering Wiess's personal space.

"Oh- Uh, I dunno. Hey Pug! What's the point of the game?"

Pug twisted in his seat, "Just leadership training."

Weiss narrowed her eyes, unconvinced about his answer. Ruby accepted it and continued telling her story to Yang, who stared at her sister like Jaune was to Nora. Blake chuckled behind her book. Pug twisted back around and faced silence, Team JNPR was staring at him.

"What?" He asked, scooting closer to the edge of his seat.

"I asked what happened during your mission. We'd like to know." Pyrrha repeated, unaware that Pug had been talking to Ruby just a moment before.

Pug felt his breath catch in his mouth. He pushed away the dark thoughts and exhaled slowly.

"You don't have to tell us! I know it must be difficult- "

"It's fine, "Pug cut Pyrrha off with a burp. He explained the mission from start to finish, the finish being the explosion and the mysterious tri-colored sadist that stabbed him. Team JNPR listened and expressed their condolences.

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby's voice cut into the somber tone that Pug had set. "When are you guys leaving for your mission?"

"Monday, I think…" Jaune turned to Ren, "Was it Monday?"

"It was." Ren nodded.

"Monday." Jaune affirmed.

"Awh, poor White Puppy-"Ruby bit her tongue and chuckled nervously when Pug and Jaune shot her a nasty look.

"White Puppy?" Weiss asked.

Pug and Jaune shot down her question with both a glare and a simultaneous "It's nothing."

"I am curious to what this White Puppy is," Blake asked, continuing the question the two boys wanted to bury in the ground.

"As am I," Ren added.

"White Puppy?" Pyrrha chuckled.

Jaune and Pug shared a look before huffing.

"It's their shipping name!" Ruby snickered, enjoying the embarrassed expression that filled her two friends.

"Ruby…" Pug groaned, resting his head on the table.

Team JNPR and RWBY shared some light hearted laughter before heading out. The rain poured steadily down and they all rushed to the airship, hoods and caps over heads. Pug and Jaune had to unfortunately protect the contents of Weiss's and Pyrrha's shopping items. All of their shopping items.

As they boarded the airship, dripping wet, Pug couldn't shake off the thoughts of his deceased team.

 _I'm going to find out what happened._

 _One day._


End file.
